Shadow Fang
by Naruto20Akemi20
Summary: Naruko left the village at age 8 with Itatchi uchiha only to be asked to return along with him after 4 years. No naruita pairing here people, itachi is more like a big brother. Slight sakura and sasuke bashing. slight femnaruxgaara, main femnaruxten.
1. Chapter 1: The beginning

An: I hope those of you that follow my stories will like what I have come up with this time. Its something like what I have done before but with a small twist.

* * *

Summary: Naruko left the village at age 8 with Itatchi uchiha only to be asked to return along with him after 4 years. Pairing undecided for now but this will be a fem narux a girl. No naruita pairing here people, itachi is more like a big brother. Slight sakura and sasuke bashing.

-3rd person-

A girl with short spiky blond hair no older than 8 ran through the side streets of konohagakure no sato with a backpack over her shoulder. It was a starry night and few people were out on the streets. Mostly drunks and shinobi were the main population and those who noticed her only glared or quickly looked the other way. Who was this young girl and where was she going you might ask? Her name was Naruko Uzumaki and she was leaving the place that had done nothing for her in the short 8 years she had lived.

-Naruko pov-

Naruko ducked into a alleyway when she saw some of the bodyguards the old man hokage had assigned to her run in the direction she was headed covered in orange paint and once he vanished to the rooftops she kept running and avoided all attention to the best of her ability and considering she was famous for getting in and out of anbu headquarters without detection she wasn't seen by any of her pursuers.

She finally reached the gate she had found out had the least guarding due to the guards being lazy. She looked around to see if anyone could see her if she ran through the gate. The gate guards were asleep like she had hoped and she ran as fast as she could towards the gate and as she was about to step outside of the walls she was grabbed by the back of her jacket and lifted into the air. She spun around only to come face to face with one Itachi Uchiha covered in blood. Naruko started struggling in his hold but Itachi had no intentions of letting go.

-Itachi pov-

If there was one person Itachi never expected to see on the night he was supposed abandon his village after killing all of his clan except for his little brother, it was the most troublesome person in his life. He had numerous times had to catch her after one of her pranks due to the other anbu not knowing how to catch her. He had just come back from the hokage after telling him to take care of his brother. He remembered seeing the blond at the academy when he came to pick his brother up.

"What are you doing here Naruko?" Itachi asked making the blond halt in her struggling.

"Leaving."

"why?"

Naruko just gave the older boy a look that said duh. He knew exactly why from that look alone. She was finally leaving after all the abuse she had endured from the hands of the villagers and he couldn't say he blamed her. He could always take her with him and later send the hokage a message through Jiraya of the sannin about her whereabouts.

"Is there no way I can change your mind about this?" Itachi asked the blond just to be sure even though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"No. I'm sick of this place." the blond replied and Itachi nodded.

"Then how about you join me. I'm also leaving this place due to some...complications."

The blonds eyes widened slightly before she nodded and Itachi let her go and they ran into the dark forest surrounding the village hidden in the leaves and left the place that carried many memories for both of them behind.

-4 years later, in a small town near lightning country-

Itachi Uchiha watched his blond companion pace around the room at the inn they were staying in currently. He had just told her about a letter that summoned him out of his fake betrayal of konoha and back to the village along with said blond even though the village had no control over her. The hokage had not ordered her or him to return, rather asked that they consider it, if they were going to return then they were to meet Jiraya of the sannin in Tanzaku gai in 3 days time. Itachi had reached his own decision. He was going to return but his blond companion was quite stubborn about returning to the place she always called hell.

Naruko felt irritated, no scratch that, she was angry that Itachi even wanted to return. The village hadn't exactly been kind to him since his supposed 'betrayal' but now he wanted to go back because the old goat and council told him to? It made no sense to her. She personally loved being able to walk in the streets without anyone spitting at her or glaring at her. And she also had a great reputation as an assassin/mercenary for hire called the shadow fang why should she drop that and return to a place that hated and despised her?

Itachis reasoning was that now that she was as skilled as she was she could show everyone that they were wrong about her. That she wasn't the kyuubi(yes she knew about him. Itachi told her when she asked him why everyone hated her.). To Naruko that didn't feel like enough but she didn't want Itachi to go back and leave her alone either. The blond sighed and stopped in front of the man she had started to think of as the older brother she never had.

"Fine. I'll come back with you. But I will leave if those fucking retards don't straighten up. I don't care if I'll become a missing nin due to it." Naruko finally said after a moments silence.

"If it goes like that I will come with you." Itachi said and got up off the floor where he had been sitting before starting to pack down all of his stuff and noticed the blond doing the same.

After sealing all of her stuff in scrolls, which Itachi had taught her early on, Naruko changed into clothes which would be more suited for battle than the kimono she was wearing. she had grown a lot in the years they had been away. She stood now at 168cm. (an: I know its tall for a naruto char but she has been traveling with itachi who made her eat an healthy diet which means no malnourishment for 4 years.)

She had always worn bright colors when she was a kid with orange being her favorite color but now wore black cargo pants with a belt which had a orange belt buckle in the form of a fox's head and a black sports top which showed off her fit body perfectly. Her skin was healthily tanned after hours of being outside in the sun either doing work, training or traveling. She also wore a black leather jacket over the sports top and black fingerless gloves with a metal plate.

She finished her outfit by strapping a katana on her back which had a hilt which was a black fox's head with ruby eyes and the blade itself was red. The sheath was black and had some seals on it which allowed only her to draw the blade so no one could use it against her. And finally braided her hair so that her now long blond hair wouldn't be getting in her face if they landed in trouble along the road. Once she was ready they headed out.

-1 week later-

Naruko, Itachi and Jiraya, or ero-sennin like Naruko had started to call him during the time that they had travelled together throughout the years, stood in front of the gates of Konoha. Naruko was seriously fighting the urge to turn around and go back due to the gate guards behavior towards them. He refused to let any of them in until the hokage himself came down to prove that they weren't lying. He had even attacked Itachi on sight even though the whole village had been told the truth about the massacre a few days earlier.

Naruko was about to give into her feeling when she suddenly saw the old hokage come walking down the street towards the gate.

"What is the meaning of having me come down here to let my old student and his two companions into the village?" The third hokage asked glaring at the guard who started stammering that he just wanted to be sure that they were not enemies.

"I gave notification that Itachi Uchiha and Naruko Uzumaki were to be allowed into the village the moment of their arrival with Jiraya. Did you not receive it?"

"I-I did sir."

"Then stop being an ignorant fool and start doing your job correctly." the old hokage said before giving the three travelers a sign to follow him.


	2. Chapter 2: first day second day

Chapter 2: first day second day.

Naruko was shocked for a moment when she noticed no glares pointed at her or Itachi but figured it was because people didn't recognize her and the fact that Itachi killed the Uchiha clan saved them from a civil war. She just hoped it would stay like this for a little while, she seriously didn't feel like getting glared at.

They arrived at the hokage tower and Naruko couldn't help but remember all the times she had told the old man that she would one day take over the seat as hokage. That had been before she turned 8 years old and got tired of the bad treatment the old hokage couldn't protect her from. Naruko just shook her head silently and followed her 'nii-san' into the building.

They entered the hokages office and after the old hokage gestured them to take a seat Naruko and Itachi sat down while Jiraya decided to stand.

"I'm glad to see that both of you decided to return even though I know it can't have been an easy decision. I hope you know I wouldn't have kept you as a missing nin had you refused Itachi-kun." the old hokage said looking at Itachi who nodded. He then turned his attention to Naruko whose face was schooled into an unreadable mask.

"So, how have you been Naru-chan?" the old hokage asked the blond.

"Great. But I do hope you have a reason to bring me and Itachi back since I doubt you brought us back to have small talk." Naruko answered and raised one elegant blond eyebrow.

"No, I did not." Hiruzen(An: writing hokage is kind of tiring. So first name it is.) replied before sighing. "I wanted you to return because I need you to become a genin of konoha, the graduating class is at an odd number so I thought why not give you a chance to at least refuse coming back. And I wanted to clear Itachis name so I brought him back too. No one should carry the amount of burden he did."

"I understand. So you want me to join some brats in their class, graduate and then just live normally? You do realize I'm probably more powerful than any of those newbies?"

"True. But you still need to earn ranks. The chuunin exams are in a few months and you can participate with your team if your sensei agrees. The thing is Naruko you always talked about becoming a ninja and one day hokage. I want to give you a chance to do so." Hiruzen said and the blond looked at her brother figure who decided to speak up.

"I think you should do it Naru-chan. I'm thinking of becoming a jounin here again. But its your choice whether to take this offer or not."

"Fine. I'll join the academy." Naruko said after a moments silence making the hokage smile at her.

They sorted out all paperwork and Hiruzen told Naruko that she would start the next morning at the academy and then they just sat there talking about everything until the hokage brought up the matter of where they were going to stay. When they had no place in mind he got each of them an apartment in the same apartment complex and had the apartments side by side because of how close they were. He handed them key's since he had actually prepared this a few days earlier in case they needed and they headed out into the village to shop for furnishings and groceries while Jiraya and Hiruzen stayed behind.

"so what news do you bring?" Hiruzen asked his old student.

"One of my contacts told me about a group called the akatsuki. Apparently they are after the jinchuriki for some reason but they haven't made any movement towards any of them yet." Jiraya said and Hiruzen looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Keep following all leads you have on this group and also on orochimaru. I want to know exactly when they will move and towards whom." Hiruzen said before adding. "Nothing can happen to Naruko, not now that I have gotten her back here."

* * *

-with Naruko, the next day-

Naruko woke up the next morning feeling slight dread at having to go into the academy to become a genin. She looked around her new bedroom. The walls were red while one wall was a large window with a door that lead out into her own personal balcony with a view of the village and the hokage faces. Her new bed which was queen size had a black and orange comforter and a lot of pillows on it. Other than the bed there was only a large wardrobe made out of dark mahogany and black desk and one large bookshelf which was filled with scrolls and books she had collected on her travels.

She got out of bed and walked into her bathroom ,which wasn't really big and only had a toilet, sink, mirror over the sink and a bathtub, to take a shower she thought about the few days she had been in the academy before leaving. It hadn't been any fun, the kids avoided her due to how their parents treated her but some bullied her. She wondered if any of them remembered her at all considering none of the villagers seemed to recognize her. After getting dressed again she walked out of her bathroom and she smelled egg and bacon and smiled a little before walking into her kitchen&dining area where she saw Itachi and a plateful of egg and bacon with some toast waiting for her along with orange juice. She had given Itachi a spare key to her apartment so he could come and go as he wanted.

"feeling exited at all?" Itachi asked as they ate.

"No. I feel like its quite pointless to have me thrown into the academy. You took good care of my education through the years I've been gone." Naruko replied and Itachi nodded, he agreed with her but he also knew that the hokage wouldn't be able to let her rise through the ranks without graduating due to the council calling out for her blood.

"Just try to have some fun and maybe rise to the top in those two weeks you'll be there. Your academy instructor has been ordered to test your knowledge in every field so don't hold back. It would be nice to see my brother have his ass handed to him by you. Because if what I have heard about him is anything then he deserves it."

"Alright nii-san." Naruko replied chuckling a little before getting up and putting her plate into the sink before putting on her black shinobi sandals and heading towards the academy. When she arrived she was politely late so that her instructor had time to get the class settled before she was introduced. She knocked on the door and when she was told to come in she opened the door with ease and walked into the room with her head held high.

"class today we have a new student joining us. This is Naruko Uzumaki. I expect all of you to treat her well." The instructor said before saying to Naruko. "My name is Iruka Umino, take whatever seat which is open."

Naruko nodded to him and walked to the only empty seat in the back row in the corner by a window beside a girl who, if the eyes were any indication, was an Hyuuga. She saw her brother figures younger brother too. He was openly glaring at her with hate. He probably had already heard that she had come into the village with his brother who they had heard he still wanted to kill. The rest of the students stayed silent and many of the boys were plain out staring and Naruko in all of her obliviousness didn't know why. When she sat down Iruka called their attention to himself and when Naruko heard they would be learning history of the elemental nation she tuned him out and looked out the window.

After classes for the day Iruka asked her to stay so they could test where she was standing in the academic side of her education. He made her take all the tests which her class had been made to take throughout the 4 years of the academy. As she took them he took her score and on every single one of them she got 100/100 points. Iruka was impressed to say the least. After finishing the last test Iruka offered to take Naruko out for dinner to celebrate how well she did. And Naruko decided to go along with it since she had nothing better to do since Itachi was probably out on a mission by now and she didn't feel like training.

As they walked out of the academy they noticed a large mob gathered outside the academy grounds along with the duck-butt 'last' uchiha. The mob was being held back by anbu and jounin shinobi and the hokage was there trying to talk reason into the mobs leader. They noticed one of the jounin start walking towards them, it was Itachi.

"Whats going on here?" Iruka asked the former traitor. He knew Naruko was the jinchuriki for the kyuubi but knew the difference between the scroll and the kunai.

"The villagers found out about Narukos return and are calling for her execution for betraying the village 4 years ago. Which is ridiculous if you ask me considering that she was not a shinobi of the village and had free will." Itachi replied making the blond jinchuriki sigh.

"I was hoping they would stay calm for a few more days." Naruko said and the two men nodded their head in understanding. Naruko then added "I think I will have to take you upon your offer for celebration later Iruka-sensei. I don't think its such a good idea for me to be out and about right now. Or Itachi for that matter if the look his brother is giving both of us right now." Iruka saw her point and agreed. Itachi and Naruko then walked to the old hokage and whispered to him that they were going to head home and he nodded to six of his anbu to follow and make sure they would be safe in their apartments.

Once everyone was ready they used shunshin to get to their apartment safely and once they vanished the mob cried in outrage over having lost their targets. The hokage told them all to go home and calm down or they would be arrested and held on trial for disturbing the peace. After that the mob broke off and everything got quiet. The only one who remained standing in front of the hokage was Sasuke Uchiha who was seething in anger over his brother getting away from him.

"How can you let a murderer and a traitor back into the village old fool?! And ruin my families name on top of it have you lost your mind? He obviously lied about the goddamned coup my father would never betray this village!" The young uchiha seethed.

"We had bone hard evidence that he was planning a coup from not only Itachi but also Shisui. And I let them back because they have done nothing wrong. Naruko left on an undercover training trip with your brother. Here are files telling you what happened that night 4 years ago. Now go home and think over everything." Hiruzen said and used shunshin to get back to his office.

* * *

-with Naruko-

After getting to her apartment safely Naruko decided to train a little in her own personal training ground which was kind of big and had all the work out equipment she needed and a swimming pool. (an: in normal apartment complexes there are many apartments in one floor. In this story the apartment complex Naruko lives in is specially designed for shinobi so it has 4 each floor and each apartment has 4 rooms, bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen&dining area and a large training area. This comes because some shinobi would spy to learn something someone else is working on and this stops that from happening. Wouldn't this be expensive? Yes but Naruko has money from when she was working outside the village as an assassin and mercenary and since she knows who her parents are she also has money from there so its just one huge monthly allowance kind of.)

She took off her leather jacket and threw it onto a chair before doing the regular physical training exercises, jump-rope, running a few laps around the area, push ups, sit ups. Then she started to work on chakra control. After the first year with her Itachi had realized that she had greater chakra than most due to the kyuubi and he had started to teach her all the chakra control exercises he knew and even snuck into enemy villages to get some from them. She worked everyday on them even if she mastered them all by now. She could forget about doing medicaljutsu and genjutsu and all of the jutsu that required the lowest of low chakra like the bunshin jutsu.

She decided to run a few laps on the walls of the room to focus her chakra while holding a bowl of water in her hands without the water falling out of the bowl. She had been trying to do this for awhile but it was harder than people thought. After about an hour of working on her chakra control she went on to working on her newest suiton jutsu which Itachi had started to teach her a week earlier. It was the suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu, it created a large dragon out of water and could deal some physical damage. Another hour later she decided that it was time to quit for the day and let herself sink into the pool and swam to the end of it and got out. She didn't really care if her clothes got wet since the water was clear water and cleaned itself everyday and refilled itself with clean water.

She took a shower and changed into another pair of a sports top before picking her orange pajama pants which were her favorite. She then walked into the kitchen to get something to eat only to find Itachi already waiting for her there with dinner ready. He had prepared a roasted duck with sweet chili sauce and white rice. He always seemed to know when she was going to eat and always kept food ready for them to share since he didn't like being alone as much as people thought.

They ate in silence. It was just how they were, they didn't like talking much. They understood each other on a level most people didn't and it was just pure sibling love. Many people thought they were romantically involved but the truth was Naruko had never showed interest in either gender and was only entering her teenage years while Itachi had always had his eyes on someone else.

After they ate they washed the dishes together and then said goodnight and Itachi headed into his own apartment while Naruko went to her own bedroom and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

* * *

An: Sooo... here is a list of who I could pair Naruko with in this story. I will take your opinion into account when I decide so please review with your vote:

Naruko x Tenten. (note: I have done this pairing before in the golden hero of konoha)

Naruko x Hana

Naruko x Gaara (note: I'm willing to try to write this pairing but I really have an hard time writing pairing with boys in them except if the main char of the story is a boy.)


	3. Chapter 3: reminder of an existence

Chapter 3: a reminder of an existence

Naruko did her normal morning routine including eating a breakfast with Itachi and then headed to class. They were having an sparring session in Taijutsu class today and she intended to show everyone who was boss from now on. And it wasn't mister duck-butt hair or his #1 pink fangirl. But first it was anatomy class. Today was a little different from before due to a few girls of the class trying to approach her with the subject of mister duck-butt being the hottest guy around but always left when she gave them the cold shoulder. When it was time for Taijutsu class the whispers were about her being a stuck up bitch.

They drew names out of a bag to decide who would face who. Naruko drew first since Iruka was curious about her ability in taijutsu when she was 100% academically. She got the name she wanted , Sasuke Uchiha. And if his ignorant and overconfident smirk was anything to judge by then he considered himself lucky.

They took their places across each other on the sparring ring. The goal was to get the other person outside of the sparring ring with only taijutsu or strike the opponent 5 times within the 5 minute time limit. The moment Iruka started to say begin Sasuke ran at Naruko fully intent on throwing her with only one hit outside the ring but Naruko just stood still until the last moment making the crowd of fangirls go wild thinking their star would win in just one hit. But then Naruko did something unexpected. She jumped over Sasukes back using him as a spring board causing him to crash into the ground and slide outside the ring. When he stood up he was spitting out a mouthful of dirt making everyone laugh at him except for all of his fangirls who screamed in outrage.

Iruka just smiled and declared Naruko as the winner making the hotheaded uchiha even angrier and demand that she be punished for cheating. Iruka just told him to calm down and get over it. He then called up the next person to draw a name out. Naruko went over to a tree and sat under it since she was not required to watch the rest of the spars. After a few min of cloud watching she noticed someone walking towards her location. She looked up and saw a boy with a puppy and red triangle tattoos on his face walking towards her along with another boy with a pineapple haircut and a chubby boy with spirals on his cheeks.

"Hey new girl. Can we join you?" the one with the tattoo and dog asked her and when she nodded they sat down near her. She sat up with her back to the tree so she could watch what was going on around her.

"Names Kiba Inuzuka, and those are Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi." the boy with the dog now known as Kiba said gesturing to himself and the two boys that came with him before adding "I gotta say the way you humiliated the famed uchiha in no time at all was freaking awesome! The look on his face when you made him eat dirt was the best joke I have ever seen in the 4 years I've been here!"

"Glad you liked it, I intend to keep killing his ego." Naruko said grinning and Kiba grinned back.

"I can't wait to see you do it. It's been a long time coming." Kiba said before looking back to where Naruko saw Sasuke glaring at her.

"So Naruko, right?" at her nod Kiba continued "do you like pranks?" when she nodded again he grinned "You are my new best friend." Naruko blinked before grinning.

"I take it you like pranks too then. Maybe you three would be interested in helping me with the biggest prank that this village has ever landed in? I was a troublemaker before I left on my training trip and I think some people have forgotten about me so I would like to remind them." Naruko asked and the three boys nodded so they started discussing all the pros and cons of what Naruko had in mind. Shikamaru's strategic mind helped a lot since he could tell them if something was possible or not. The continued talking until class was over and then they sat beside each other in the next class.

They were going to plant the prank this weekend but have a trigger which would only activate when Naruko was ready. They would be in class so no one could prove their involvement. She had assigned each of them a task, Kiba was to get his sister to get them some pheromones which would make dogs wild into mating with whomever it was on along with dog semen and piss. Shikamaru was going to help Naruko by setting the stuff in the right places so that the plan would work out. Chouji was going to get them some paint and glue while Naruko would get them pink hair dye and some pink skintight spandex which said Sasukes #1 fan. She was planning on sneaking into peoples houses and getting hair dye which would come out in a month and stealing all of their clothes and replacing them with the spandex. She was also going to sneak into a lot of business building and just places people gathered many in a group in the village with dog piss, semen and pheromones including all shinobi buildings except for the academy but she was going to get revenge on the instructors which had treated her friends badly by having paint bombs in their closets. She was also thinking of stealing the Hyuuga clans underwear and throw them all over the village and painting the hokage monument in broad daylight. Bars in the village would have glue on the chairs that only dried once someone sat on the seat due to a special seal Naruko created.

* * *

-The day of plan hell-

Naruko woke up on monday morning feeling quite exited. She didn't dare show it though but told her nii-san to come to the academy later that day over breakfast to see her saying hello to the village. She had put up security cameras all over the village which was connected to a recorder so she would catch the greatest prank in history. She had created as many shadow-clones as she could to start the second stage of the plan earlier that morning, stage one they had done the day earlier when they put all of the gross stuff into their correct places along with the paint and glue, stage two was getting hair dye into peoples shampoo and stealing all the clothes replacing them, included in this was Sasuke Uchiha himself.

After she felt the clones dispel themselves in parts and saw that all of them had been successful in doing their job undetected she created another batch which would henge into random civilian looking people and would trigger the prank. Three of them though she had henge into Hyuuga people and sent them to get all of the underwear and when the time was right get them all over the village. At her signal the village would erupt in total, glorious chaos.

When she arrived at the academy she saw her friends nod at her silently looking like their normal selves to not get any suspicion attracted to themselves. It was now 8:30am, the plan would be put into motion at 12 noon. Except for the part they saw unravel in front of them right now. They saw plenty of people walking around in pink spandex with pink hair looking quite embarrassed and angry.

The biggest joke was Sasuke uchiha though. He walked into the academy grounds and he was wearing pink spandex which said: I'm Gay 3 and also: I like hard cocks. And his hair was dyed bright bubblegum pink. The look on the fangirls faces was priceless and everyone looked shocked at the youngster who was embarrassed beyond measure and looked ready to kill someone. Itachi walked into the academy grounds at that moment and barely hid his amusement.

"Man Sasuke, I didn't know you liked guys. That's going to make showering after taijutsu class freaking awkward! You better not stare at me!" Kiba called out to the Uchiha who gave him a look that said he was going to murder him.

Sasukes fangirl club recovered and ran to him offering to show him the good points of loving girls. The Uchiha did not help the rumor that was now spreading by walking away from them cursing. Naruko and her friends walked into class and waited for the next patch of the prank to start. They were out for lunch when Naruko made a shadow clone of herself before changing into a civilian herself and sneaking out into the village to start the big part of the prank. She signaled to one of her clones to start in 10 minutes and went to the dog park where dogs were allowed to roam free inside a fenced off area. She let the dogs out as the clones set off the pranks one by one, dispelling themselves the moment they did.

The dogs went wild the moment it happened and ran towards the middle of town where Chaos ruled. People were glued down to their chairs in bars and were covered in dog urine or pheromone and were being humped by horny dogs. Others were covered in semen. And anbu were covered in paint and semen. She went back to the academy where she dispelled the clone after replacing herself with him silently. Her whole class was watching the chaos happen and saw people running around with dogs on their heels. Tsume and Hana soon joined the four friends at the academy grounds laughing at peoples misfortune, Kiba, Chouji and unbelievable but true Shikamaru were on the ground laughing their asses off.

Naruko just stood there with a grin on her face and chuckled everytime someone was humped by a dog. The only ones she had spared were the elderly, because they couldn't defend themselves and her friends families. She also saw Hyuuga running all around the village trying to collect their dirty and clean underwear. It was hilarious seeing the normally stoic and collected Hyuuga running around like headless chicken, out of the hyuuga clan she had only spared Hinata Hyuuga because she had spoken to her a few times in the past few days and she was always nice to her.

The group stopped laughing though when they saw the Hokage appear in a shunshin. He had not been spared from the onslaught, as could be seen from the fact he was covered head to toe in dog piss. He was glaring daggers at Naruko since he just KNEW it was her that had caused all of the chaos that day. His anbu were trying to rein in the civilians when they suddenly heard a couple of large booms coming from inside the academy. Out walked 4 chuunin academy instructors covered in paint and dog urine making another vein appear on the hokages head. Iruka walked out not a spot on him and gasped when he saw the hokage monument. The hokage turned around and saw the monument had been painted, the first head was painted like a clown, the second like a rockstar, his own head was painted like a corpses, while the yondaimes head was just given color, his blond spiky hair was the exact shade as it was when he lived, his tan skin and the blue eyecolor his daughter had inherited from him were all there. The detail of how the face was painted made it look like the yondaime was looking at the village with a soft look on his face.

To say the least everyone was openly gaping at the good work she did on the yondaimes face. The hokage was a little miffed at the clear poke at his age by painting his face as a corpse but he had to admit that she did a good job. He would never be able to prove that she had done all of the pranks. When he asked around everyone said that she had been there the whole day and Itachi accounted for her that morning so she couldn't be held responsible for any of the pranks. The only one she took any blame for was painting the hokage monument.

Naruko was pleased, she knew the hokage could never hold her responsible without proof or with her confessing and since she didn't feel like being yelled at she only admitted to painting the hokage faces. And since she used permanent paint on her dads face his face would forever remain with color. When she told the third this in the privacy of his office the look on his face softened.

"If I give you photos of the first, second and me could you paint us like this too?" Hiruzen asked the blond quietly who nodded.

"Aye, I could. But only if my actions today will go unpunished." Naruko said and the hokage nodded in agreement.

"Your only punishment will be to have to paint our real faces over what you did."

Naruko could live with that so she summoned a few clones who took the pictures Hiruzen handed them and started painting immediately. Naruko was about to leave when Hiashi Hyuuga barged into the hokages office.

"Hokage-sama I demand that the culprit for stealing and throwing my clans underwear all over the village will be found and punished!" Hiashi demanded making Naruko raise her eyebrow.

"Right now I have all available shinobi working on finding out who was behind the pranks today. You aren't the only one who suffered. There are people who are forever scared of dark corners because of this and also some who fear dogs. There is nothing I can do more unless someone steps forward. I have a suspect but nothing points to her at the moment." Hiruzen told in a calm voice looking pointedly to Naruko who just looked innocent and like she had no clue what they were discussing.

"Can I go now Jiji?" Naruko asked and once she got his permission shunshined out of the office and to her apartment.

"Is she Minatos...?" Hiashi asked the hokage after a moments silence.

"Yes. This is a secret, I'm guessing you saw it from how much resemblance is between the two?"

"Yes. Though she has her mothers personality."

"Aye, that she does. I know it was her which did all of the pranks today, and she knows I know it. But I can't prove it. She has eyewitnesses placing her elsewhere at all times and others saying that she was never seen and isn't allowed near any of the places where the pranks happened." Hiruzen said sighing and Hiashi fought down a smile, when Kushina and Minato got married everyone who knew them knew that the child would be the greatest prankster in the world. A child with Kushinas genes in it would make it a prankster while it kept Minatos strategic mind which would make it a genius. It was a recipe for nightmares for the villagers who pissed it off.

* * *

-Narukos apartment-

Naruko finished sealing all evidence that she had anything to do with the days events up in a scroll before sealing it in a blood storage seal which was hidden to the naked eye on the leg of her bed. No one would ever be able to tell that it was her or anyone connected to her.

After erasing her tracks Naruko got ready to go to bed since she was kind of tired. The clones had dispelled an hour earlier after finishing the paintjob. It was well done and would be there as long as the monument stood.

* * *

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

An: and here ends chapter 3.

how ya like? Please review.

The votes for the pairing are as follows right now:

Naru x ten: 0

Naru x gaara: 1

Naru x hana: 2

Again, what wins the vote won't be the final choice. I will only take it into account what my readers want but in the end it will be the one that I know how to write that wins. But please tell me what you want to read otherwise I might end up doing the pairing you hate and you hate the story due to it.


	4. Chapter 4: Kicking ass

Chapter 4: Kicking ass

It had been two weeks, two weeks since Naruko came back to the village. And now it was finally time for her to get the first step to her dream over and done with. She was at the top of the class, always doing better than mister duck-butt. She had actually gotten her own fanclub, which to her surprise actually included both boys and girls. The boys were always trying to impress her while the girls ran around her trying to talk to her but she just gave everyone except her friends the cold shoulder but for fun she had the rumor created that she only liked someone who took being a shinobi seriously and was strong enough to give her a challenge, many of her fanclub started really trying to do better sat with her group of friends in the classroom. There had a few people been added to the group.

Shino Aburame she had met when she had handed the Aburame clan leader some locations of special bug types that they did not know about. They had become friends due to their alike personalities. Naruko mostly spoke when she felt the need to and shino was the same, there were only comfortable silences between them. And Naruko knew a hardworker when she saw one, and Shino didn't slack off even if he wasn't the best.

Hinata Hyuuga she had befriended after seeing her teased by some girls about her shyness and Naruko had scared them off and invited Hinata to sit with them, after awhile Kiba and Naruko managed to get her to stop stuttering and Naruko sometimes went over to the hyuuga house to spar with the girl under the watchful eye of Hiashi of course.

She had something in common with all of her friends, with kiba it was pranks and that she liked animals, shikamaru she shared a love for cloud watching and shoji, Chouji it was cooking, shino silence, hinata training. This caused them to be a rather tightly knit group with Naruko tying them together.

They were all confident that they would graduate, and hoped they would land in the same teams, the rest of the class was an annoyance if anyone asked their opinion and they would hate to land on their teams. Iruka started to explain how the test would work, 40% was the written exam, 10% was throwing accuracy and 50% was the jutsu part of the exam. Naruko finished her written exam in no time and went outside to wait for the rest like she was supposed to. When everyone was done with the written part they began the throwing one, she got full score on both kunai and shuriken which were all they had to have perfect to graduate.

Once everyone was done with that they were herded back inside for the last part. They were supposed to make at least 3 bunshin. They went up alphabetically after last name into a backroom so Naruko would be one of the last ones. One by one the room started to empty and Naruko could see the nerves wearing on some of the people who were left. mr. duck-butt was up before her and he looked like he was about to get sick to the stomach when he went into the room. He hadn't still spoken to this brother after two weeks of knowing he was innocent which annoyed Itachi a little from what Naruko could see.

"Your up Uzumaki." Mizuki said and Naruko stood up and walked into the back room, stopping only to give Ino Yamanaka a pat on the shoulder since she was the last in the room. The blond actually looked shocked at this since she had never shown Naruko any kindness but Naruko only told her good luck and went. When she was ready she explained to Iruka that she couldn't do normal bunshin due to having too much chakra too control to do it so he let her show the kage bunshin instead. He smiled and congratulated her when she made 20 clones of herself. She dispelled the clones and got her headband before walking outside the building with a small smile on her face.

When she got outside she saw her friends waiting for her along with Itachi near a swing that hung from a tree. All of them had an leaf headband on them making it obvious that they all graduated so she quickly tied her own around her forehead and walked up to them. In two days time they would find out if they would be on the same team. They went out with their family and friends that night to Choujis family owned restaurant and enjoyed life.

* * *

-two days later, Hokages office-

Hiruzen looked over the jounin in front of him and hoped he had made the right choices. Iruka and him had spent 2 days trying to puzzle the teams together, due to the council butting in there was an extra on one team and they had spent a lot of time trying to figure out which one to place it on. Sasuke uchiha had shown signs of defection ever since his brother got back so the council decided to have an undercover anbu watch over him. This made it kind of difficult to place Naruko on a team due to her being an extra. But in the end they had reached a decision.

* * *

-same time at the academy-

Naruko and her friends were sitting in their corner quietly while waiting for Iruka to show up. Naruko, Kiba and Shikamaru sat in the back row while Hinata, Shino and Chouji sat on the row below to make sure none of Narukos fanclub could bug her. Iruka walked into the room and felt odd walking into a silent room for once. He even thought he had gone into the wrong one. He started giving a speech about how they were shinobi now and affected the image of the village with their behavior inside and outside the village on missions. He then announced that Naruko was the rookie of the year which got screeches of outrage from the duck-butt and his fanclub. He silenced them and started listing off teams.

"...team 7 led by Hatake Kakashi will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Sai. Team 8 led by Kurenai Yuhi will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga. Team 9 is still active from last year. Team 10 led by Asuma Sarutobi will be Naruko Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka." Iruka said before wishing them good luck and left. The teams then had lunch and ate all around the academy but Naruko and her friends remained in the classroom eating there. After an hour of waiting all of the students were back in the classroom and were waiting for their sensei's to arrive.

After only a few min Sasuke got in Narukos face and demanded to know how she cheated on the tests. When she replied that she didn't he only got angrier. Chouji stretched his arms so he hit Sasukes backside causing him to fall forward and kiss Naruko on the lips and then land with his head in her cleavage. Naruko punched him as hard as she could in blind fury and the duck-butt flew across the room and broke through a window rolling in the dirt before hitting the tree head first.

His fanclub ran outside to check if he was seriously hurt while Naruko vanished via shunshin. That was the image the jounin instructors arrived to see. Kurenai and Asuma called for their teams and then noticed that they were lacking one. Looking at their genin they saw them just shrug and point to Sasuke before saying: he tried to get first base without her consent. Kurenai looked angry but took her team and left, Asuma took what he had of his team and went to the training ground hoping to find his missing genin there.

* * *

When they found her she was laying on the ground looking up into the sky with an unreadable look on her face. Asuma knew the kid since Itachi was always dragging her along when he went to meet with his fellow jonin for a drink or two. And in the two weeks that she had been back he had never seen her with that much of an cold look on her face. Naruko noticed the others joining her so she sat up and nodded to her team in greeting. Then started the introductions.

"alright, now that we are all here lets introduce ourselves and then we will test if you really are ready to become genin." Asuma said and got surprised looks from all but one of his genin, Naruko already knew there were two tests.

"Nara, You go first."

"Troublesome.. My names Nara Shikamaru, I like clouds, my friends, shoji and sleeping. I dislike people who get everything handed to them and act like they are superior and those who treat my friends badly. My dream, is to maybe have a wife and a few kids to take care of me in my old age." Shikamaru said in a lazy voice.

"Yamanaka,"

"Names Yamanaka Ino, I like Naruko-chan," Everyone looked at her in surprise at that. "and training, I dislike people who treat others badly and I dream of becoming the best head of my clan I can be." Ino said ignoring the looks she was receiving.

"Akimichi."

"Akimichi Chouji, I like training, eating and hanging around with my friends. I dislike people who treat people badly for no reason and my dream is to become clan head."

"Uzumaki."

"Names Uzumaki Naruko, Also known as the Shadow fang outside of konoha, I like training, hanging around my friends, my big adoptive brother Itachi and reading. I dislike fangirlism since it should not be allowed in shinobi since it could end up with the fangirl dead on a serious mission, I also dislike people who think the world is theirs because of their name, status or money. I wish to become Hokage one day, because becoming hokage means that everyone in the village has acknowledged me and accepted me." Naruko said and Asuma nodded.

"Good. Wait you mean you are THE shadow fang? The one that is in the bingo book with a S-rank and is said to be one of the best assassins out there?" Asuma said making the team in front of him look at her in surprise.

"Yup. That's the one i guess.. I specialize in infiltration and information gathering along with assassination. Me and Itachi didn't stay inactive the years I was away. The only reason I am a genin is because I can't get promoted without going through the normal circle since it would only cause me trouble." Naruko said simply and Asuma nodded.

"Well. Lets get started. This test is about getting these 3 scrolls from me and get to the hokage tower before the clock strikes 7. You have 1 hour to start planning, the genin who doesn't have a scroll before the end of the day will get sent back to the academy. Understood?" at their nod he told them to begin.

The genin all jumped into the trees to hide and plan. Naruko sought out the rest of the team since she knew Shikamaru would know the real reason behind the test by now like she did. When she found them Ino was being told the real reason behind the test by Shikamaru.

"He wants us to work together, this is a test to check our ability to work together as a team even if there is a risk of losing one of us. Shika, I will sneak in and get the scrolls if you distract him. I will then hand each of you a scroll and you will run. I will have a bunch of henged clones of me waiting in the trees with a fake scroll for him to follow once you escape. I will follow you to the tower."

Shikamaru and the rest of them nodded before heading closer to the clearing. Asuma had made 4 clones of himself watching over the scrolls. Naruko made some clones and sent them into the clearing along with the other three genins to distract Asuma and the clones. She then used kawarimi to switch places with a rock by the scrolls and grabbed them, placing henged shadow clones in their stead on the stump and then used kawarimi to switch places with the rock again. Asuma was busy trying to fight the clones off so he did not notice it at all. Thinking that the four were all in front of him.

Meanwhile Naruko had henged clones of herself into her team-mates and used kawarimi to make it look like they were still fighting while they were really just running towards the hokage tower.

* * *

-With Asuma-

Asuma noticed this suddenly when the scrolls behind him were dispelled and dispelled the clones before taking off after them. When Naruko noticed his pursuit she called out her army of clones who led him on a goose chase across the village while they got lost in the crowds on the streets. That was when Asuma saw team 9 led by Gai and decided to cheat a little since he did not desire looking like an idiot simply because of the blond brat on his team.

"Gai, I was wondering if you and your team could help me a bit. I have the Shadow fang on my team of genin and she made the genin test too easy for the other 3 on her team so I need help running them down and perhaps distracting them a bit. The only one who is any real threat on that team are the fang and Nara. Nara because he is the mind behind their team while the fang is an s-class assassin." Asuma said and Gai looked shocked at the news that the fang was on his team.

"I thought the shadow fang didn't belong to any village." Gai said and Asuma nodded.

"Aye, but she came back with Itachi. She lived here as a kid. Her real name is Uzumaki Naruko. She has blond hair and eyes as blue as the sky so she should not be hard to recognize unless she has henged. She is too good at using that jutsu. I didn't even know that the genin were long gone before one of them threw me onto the fake scrolls which where henged shadow clones. Itachi trained the girl too well." Asuma said looking tired making his fellow jounin smile.

"I will help you. Team lets go find those little troublemakers.!"

* * *

-with Team 10-

Team 10 were laughing at their senseis failure at keeping up with them and running full speed towards the tower, Naruko was carrying a tired Chouji since he didn't have too much stamina, which she swore to remedy as soon as she could. They were not far from the hokage tower when another team of shinobi appeared in front of them. Shikamaru recognized them as team 9 from the year before and gulped. Naruko on the other hand knew who the sensei was, Maito Gai, ranked A in the bingo book had the bounty of 10.000 ryo placed on him by Iwa for his terrible clothing.

"Get out of our way." Naruko snapped placing Chouji on the ground, she was not in the mood for new distractions. She felt that all of this was a waste of her talents. That was when she saw their sensei appear by the other team and sighed realizing that he probably set the other team up to this.

"This is a new part of the test hime. You have to beat us to get into the tower. Can you best the same number of players as you have?" Asuma said smirking. His smirk faded away though when he heard the girl laugh evilly.

" It would seem that you forgot... I am no normal genin. Shika, Chouji, Ino you know what to do. I will handle these fools." Naruko said and her team-mates stepped back giving her room with some unsure looks on their faces and herded civilians out of the nearby area so they would not get hurt.

Naruko then started making some handsigns none of them knew. Before whispering so low that only the jounin barely heard it. "Shadow of hell..."

The whole area surrounding them suddenly became pitch black and Naruko sunk into the shadows. The three genin on team 9 looked nervous. Hyuuga Neji tried to use his Byakugan to see but could not see anything. The next thing he knows he is struck in the stomach hard and he sees his team-mates suffer the same fate before losing consciousness. The two jounin were the only ones left standing when they saw team 10 appear and attack them all at once saying that as a team they could not let Naruko have all the glory. So while Naruko hid in the shadows and knocked their heads together knocking them out. They distracted the jounin. Naruko then released the technique and they ran into the hokages office, leaving the 4 people on the ground unconscious.

Naruko explained how the test went to the hokage who looked stunned at her talents but congratulated them on passing and ordered his anbu to bring the two jounin and the genin into his office to report. When they did Asuma glared lightly at Naruko and muttered something about evil little blondes and troublesome genins.

Team 10 just snickered before their sensei glared at them. Hiruzen sweat dropped and cleared his throat before turning to his son. "I'm guessing from what they told me and that you aren't pleased that they pass?"

"Hai, Father. They pass. They showed real team-work. And even when Naruko gave her team a chance to leave with the scrolls they stayed and fought us with her even when she caught us by surprise and knocked us out, they stayed."

"Alrighty then. Congratulations once more Team 10. You will meet up with your sensei on training ground 10 in 48 hours for missions and training. All of the genin are Dismissed. And thank you, team 9, for helping out with the test." Hiruzen said and the 7 genin walked out of his office leaving him alone with the jounin, who discussed how talented Naruko really was.

* * *

-With team 10 and 9-

"So do you guys wanna go grab something to eat or something? I'm starving." Chouji said once they reached the bottom of the stairs of the hokage tower.

"You are always hungry Chouji but sure, I wouldn't mind some BBQ right now." Naruko said chuckling lightly.

"Me too." Shikamaru said and they looked to their 4th team-mate who nodded silently before walking to the BBQ place. They were soon stopped by team 9 though who asked if they could join them too. They agreed and they all chatted on the way to the BBQ restaurant that Choujis family owned except for Naruko who kept silent most of the way, only speaking when spoken to.

They were shown to their seats by Choujis mother who was working that after-noon. She handed them menus before heading to grab them drinks. The genin on team 9 introduced themselves to team 10 who repaid the favor. The femine boy was Hyuuga Neji, the female member of the team was Higurashi Tenten and the last one was mini- gai, named Rock Lee. He kept shouting about the flames of youth like his sensei. They were soon joined by team 8. Hinata sat beside Naruko and started chatting with her about help with her training. When Neji heard this he sneered.

"Why bother training at all Hinata-sama, you will always be weaker than I and Hanabi, even if you get someone like Uzumaki to help you." Neji spat and before he knew it he was needled to the wall behind him with senbon. Naruko was standing which made it obvious who had thrown them and they could see the cold look on her face.

"If I don't recall correctly, then someone managed to sneak into the Hyuuga compound and steal all of your underwear except for Hinata's and throw it all over the village without the hyuuga's knowing it. And I also recall you collecting some rather embarrassing panda and heart underwear on that day. So if Hinata is so weak then how come the intruder in question didn't get her underwear too?"

When Neji could not answer this she just sat back down and once Lee finished getting the senbon out of his outfit he stormed out. Lee apologized for his behavior before following his team-mate. The only one who remained of team 9 was Tenten who just shook her head and then started eating her food which had already arrived while that was going on.

They slowly started talking while eating once more and then Shikamaru decided to come up with the idea that when not on missions or training with their sensei team 10 and 8 would train together and that way improve their skills faster and since they would have to work together in the future it would help them grow more team-work. After they ate they split for the day. Tenten and Naruko decided to walk together since Naruko didn't live to far from Tentens place.

"You know, I always thought the Shadow fang was older than I. I had heard that she could crush a grown mans skull with one hand. And that she was over 10 feet tall and also that she was an werewolf." Tenten said after a moments silence.

"Hah. Well. Not everything you hear is true. I'm not 10 feet tall like you can see. And I can't crush a grown mans skull."

"What about the werewolf thing?"

"Well. I can henge into an animal like others but no. I'm not a werewolf. Though I have been told that I am a tiger in bed." Naruko said suggestively wagging her eyebrows at the brunette who laughed.

"Well. This is my stop." Tenten began coming to a stop in front of a store called the golden spear before continuing. "It was nice meeting you Naruko, and an honor for someone who has always kind of looked up to the Shadow fang as a serious kunoichi."

"You too Tenten. It is always nice to meet people who take being a shinobi seriously, since there aren't many these days. Goodnight." Naruko said before jumping to the rooftops to get faster to her own apartment complex.

It had been an interesting day. Itachi was out of the village on a mission so she just headed straight to bed.

* * *

-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 4 is up...after err... 8 months of waiting. I'm sorry. I grew distant from Naruto for some time but once I re-read golden hero of Konoha I gained inspiration and wrote an epilogue for that story while typing this chapter up within 48 hours. :c I will finish this story before the Twilight story I have going I promise. I'm kind of stuck on it anyway. x.x anyway, I have decided the pairing now. It will be Naruko x Tenten as main coupling, but before that happens Naruko will date Hana and Gaara for some time. And Tenten will also be datin some other people too. I hope you like the new chappy.


	5. Chapter 5:wave part 1

An: Another chapter. I hope you like this one. I added in some things in this one that some people might feel as too much but hey. Just let me know.

-x-x-x-

Chapter 5: Wave part 1

Team 10 had been doing d-ranks for 3 months and Naruko's patience for them was growing thinner by the second. She had been going on assassination jobs every now and then with the hokages permission to keep her temper in check. They had all grown stronger in those 3 months along with team 8.

They had stayed true to their word and Naruko had helped them train outside of their normal training. The two teams had grown even closer through this and the two jounin were glad that their teams got along since there was some lovin between them. They often went on missions together and that way finished double the amount that other teams did. They had also gotten both of their teams black combat vests with their code names on them. Naruko was fang, Shikamaru was Cloud, Chouji was Axe due to the huge battle axe Naruko had made and given him to use with his baika no jutsu, Hinata was rice, Kiba was kibble, Ino was Rose, and Shino was Bug-boy.

Naruko had also shown why she was known as shadow fang. She had bracers on her arms which shot out 3 blades each when she clenched her fists(wolverine, x-men, for life xD). Kiba had wanted to get a pair and Naruko had personally made him a pair which would work with his fighting style by getting to use the forge in the golden spear and then after some debate with the apartment complex's owner she and Itachi moved their stuff to the top floor which had bigger rooms and access to the roof through the apartments.

Naruko had a small building raised on top of the apartment complex which housed a forge and a working room which would allow her to make leather and other stuff which didn't involve fire. The forge's room had plenty of openings to keep the smoke out. She sold the village new seals which improved its security and was set for life in money officially especially with her going on assassination jobs which paid well.

Hinata had received a bow with special arrows with seals which would either blow up or throw nets over their enemy when leaked chakra into along with normal arrows. Naruko had personally designed the seals and arrows so Hinata had to speak with her when she needed more. Naruko had a similar bow to Hinatas except hers was tuned in with her elemental chakra, which was wind and had the same arrows and normal ones.

Shikamaru had received throwing knives and a katana from Naruko which would allow him to be able to fight both long and close range if needed without chakra. He in return helped her design new seals and weapons and let her have skins from deer that had to be put down.

Ino had a staff which had blades at both ends and could be separated in the middle and used as dual-weaponry. Shino had a katana and some seals.

Asuma had gotten Hayate to teach their students how to use a katana when Naruko told him about her making them. Tenten had taught Ino how to use the staff as a favor to Naruko and Naruko personally taught Kiba how to use the bracers while giving Chouji pointers on using the axe since she had only seen someone else use one before and been taught the basics by them.

Ino had dropped her fangirlism and was now thanks to the endless training chunin rank in skills along with the rest of them. Naruko was jounin level in skills after gaining some elemental training from her sensei and all in all the two teams were able to handle a lot of fighting.

The first few weeks Naruko had been training the two teams in their days off she had made them focus on physical training like running to increase stamina and chakra control. Itachi had sometimes helped when he wasn't away on missions or spending time with his recent girlfriend Mitarashi Anko who also helped at times with her sadistic ways.

Team 7 had at times came to bug them since Sasuke was still bitter about the loss of ''his'' title to Naruko. And after hearing she was the Shadow fang he demanded she train him but she refused which angered the boy to no end. She pranked him for every single time that he asked her in various ways. Stealing his clothes, putting hair dye into his shampoo, giving his fangirls his phone number and pictures of him naked, using henge to change into him and taking one of them on a date and then sleeping with her. The last one was slowly destroying the last of his reputation. People were starting to dislike him and yet he did not know who was doing this to him.

No one knew it was Naruko sleeping with the girls since she was using a new type of henge that she called the sexy no jutsu, male style. There was of course a female version but she hardly ever used it except on assassinations which required her to get in closer than ever. No one knew about this except Itachi and he wasn't about to spoil his little sisters fun. It wasn't like she was harming anyone by letting her frustrations out in an healthy way though he did feel her too young then she was a shinobi, and their code was, old enough to kill, old enough to drink, old enough to fuck.

Naruko and her team were waiting for their sensei one day when an anbu summoned them to the hokages office, telling them that their sensei was there along with team 8. They used shunshin to appear in the office quickly. Once they were there they saw everyone looking slightly worried. Itachi was there also which only made her worry more.

"Alright who died?" Naruko finally said and Hiruzen looked up in surprise.

"No one. But you have a serious A-rank mission. I sent team 7 on a c-rank to wave yesterday but they met heavy resistance. The demon brothers and Momoichi Zabuza are both enemy targets on this mission now instead of the bandits we were expecting. So I need team 8, 9 and 10 along with Itachi to go back them up. I already sent team 9 ahead so once you guys are ready you can go. Asuma and Kurenai will lead on this mission. Kakashi will inform you of any other details when you get to wave." Naruko didn't blink hearing Zabusas name but inside she was in turmoil. She and Itachi were friends with Zabuza and his apprentice/girlfriend Haku.

She just nodded and she and Itachi shunshined to their apartments. Itachi was ready before her so he came to join her in her apartment. Knowing she would be in turmoil. "Naruko, we can get Zabuza to give up his mission. He wont face you and you know it. Neither will Haku. We can ask the old man if he will let Zabuza and Haku seek refuge here before we go and then Zabuza wont have any reason at all to refuse."

"Aye. It would be safer to never have to fight no-brows again." she finished sealing up her gear before they shunshined to the hokages office again.

"I have a request jiji." Naruko said and at the old mans nod she continued. "Me and Itachi are friends with Momoichi Zabuza, we could get him to drop his mission for whomever that is behind his hiring. But it would require us to give them something better in return, Zabuza only rebelled against the mist because of the bloodline wars. He was betrayed and that's why hes a missing nin. He would be a good addition to our shinobi ranks along with his apprentice who has the ice- bloodline. So I request that you allow him to join our ranks with his apprentice once we return from wave."

Hiruzen looked thoughtful for a moment. "Are you two certain of your ability to bring him to your side?"

"Hai, I saved his life while I was away." Naruko answered and Hiruzen finally nodded before writing his permission on a scroll. If both Zabuza and his apprentice signed the scroll they would be allowed into the village upon return from wave.

"Thank you. Jiji. It means a lot to me to not have to kill my friends." Naruko said and Hiruzen nodded in understanding.

They then shunshined to the gate where the rest of the teams were waiting. After explaining everything to them too they headed out towards wave.

-with team 7 and 9 in wave-

Tenten sighed as the Uchiha started another one of his rants about his superiority. They were at Tazuna's house resting after training the whole day while Gai guarded the bridge. There hadn't been any attacks recently which confirmed that Zabuza had been hurt the last time.

It had been a week and even knowing that back up was on the way they were nervous. The attack would probably happen tomorrow. The whole two teams would be heading to the bridge to face the demon of the mist and his helper. She just hoped that Naruko and the others would appear in time, because none of them were strong enough to face them alone.

-The next day-

They were all on full alert when the mist started forming. They could feel the killing intent in it and Tenten heard the Uchihas shaking in fear and also noticed the sound when he peed himself. They had formed an protective circle around the bridge builder and Neji was using his byakugan to let them know where he would be coming from. Then suddenly the mist cleared a little and they saw the two missing nin.

"So how about you give me that bridge builder and no one else will be hurt today?" Zabuza asked coldly.

"Forget it Zabuza, we outnumber you greatly." Kakashi spat out and Zabusa just nodded in understanding before the mist thickened again. Then they started striking from all over the place. Faster than Neji could follow. Zabuzas apprentice used his ice bloodline to trap Sasuke and Neji inside an ice dome. While Lee was fighting a horde of Zabuzas water clones with Tenten backing him up while Sasukes #1 fangirl, sakura, defended the bridge builder rather badly which forced lee and tenten to have to watch over her.

It was about 30 minutes later that all of them were thrown back and the clones dispelled by a large gust of wind that blew the mist away and breaking the ice-domes. They all stood up to look at where the gust of wind came from only to see Naruko crouching with an annoyed look on her face.

She was soon joined by the rest of her team and team 8 along with Uchiha Itachi.

-Naruko's pov-

"Long time no see Zabuza." Naruko said and the missing nin grinned through his bandages.

"Well well well. If it isn't the runt. How you been Naruko? And what are you doing here? Hear about the party and decided to join?" Zabuza said almost happily making the two teams who had been fighting looked at them like 'wth is going on?'.

"Not exactly, you see I went back to konoha 3 months and a half ago to join their ranks with Itachi. We were sent as back up for this mission since it involved you. But I do not wish to fight you Zabuza, I did not save you last year just to kill you now. And since Haku would definitely kill me if I did anyway." Naruko said chuckling.

"I see. So what can we do? We are on opposite sides here. I do hope you have an offer which beats Gatous?"

"How about safe shelter from the mist and a new beginning as my adoptive brother in law since I wish to adopt Haku as my sister once we come back to konoha to protect her from any clan reforming acts."

"Well well well. You are all big words. How does this sound to you Haku?"

"You know as well as I do that we cannot best them all in a fight Zabuza and Naruko would never allow anyone to hurt us anyway. She stands by her word while I suspect Gatou of betrayal. I say we should go with them. Its no fun to always have to be on the run." Haku said walking up to Naruko and giving her a hug. "I missed you blondie."

"missed ya too ice. Anyway. Here is a scroll which you can read and sign, we already got the hokage to agree before we left." Naruko said getting the scroll and throwing it at Zabuza who nodded before leaving with Haku to get the rest of their gear from the hide out giving Naruko signs that they would join them at the bridge builders house later.

With that everyone headed to Tazunas house where Team 8 and 10 camped out in the yard since there wasn't room for them in the house. They headed inside to explain everything to team 7 and 9 since they had been demanding answers the whole way back.

"Alright alright let us explain. Me and Itachi met Zabuza and Haku a year ago. He was badly injured in a fight and Haku too when we ran across the battle. At first we were planning on sneaking past but then the men started undressing obviously intending on raping haku before killing her. That was when I barged in and killed the people attacking them and healed their wounds. After that we traveled together up until a month before we returned to konoha. We became friends during that time and when I heard he was the target in this mission then I didn't want to kill him or Haku who is like a sister to me so me and Itachi asked the Hokage to allow them into the village since it would bolster our ranks." Naruko said after growing even more annoyed with the endless bugging.

"So wait, you are letting the enemy into our village out of friendship?" Sasuke asked after awhile.

"He's not our enemy anymore." Itachi said calmly and got glared at by his baby brother.

"Alright. Now we just need to find Gatou and finish him off and then finish the bridge and then we can go home." Kakashi said and everyone nodded.

"The hokage asked us to take over the mission while we are here Kakashi." Asuma said and Kakashi nodded his consent. He knew better than to argue with the two in question. When Zabuza and Haku arrived Naruko had them camp inbetween hers and Itachi's tents since she did not trust some of the people in the group to not attack them while sleeping.

Then Naruko sent out 20 clones to gather all types of supplies. Food, medical herbs, herbs that could be used for spicing and firewood. Meanwhile Zabuza told the jounin all about Gatous plans that they had overheard when they returned to get their stuff and gave them the location of the hideout along with its defenses. Team 8-10 along with Itachi, Zabuza and Haku would attack in the morning before Gatou could realize the missing nins betrayal. Team 7 would meanwhile be guarding Tazuna on the bridge with Kakashi.

When Naruko's clones returned with 5 dead wild boars and 5 dead deer along with plenty of fish, Naruko and Shikamaru took the animals to an nearby river to skin the animals and destroying the organs and cutting the meat up into differently sized pieces and then storing them in special scrolls which would keep the meat fresh. Naruko washed the skins in the river and then sealed them in a different scroll to use into some armor or weaponry.

After they finished that they returned to see the fish that they weren't going to eat that night ready for storage along with medical herbs which Haku had prepared into different scrolls herself and handed them to Naruko to seal into one large scroll that had different names of herbs and a seal below it so they could summon what they wanted when they needed it easily.

Tomorrow they would fight.

-x-x-x-

Yes, yes dramatic ending of a chapter sue me. Like what I am doing? Dislike? Tell reason behind dislike?.

Next one will hopefully be up soon.


	6. Chapter 6: Wave part 2

Chapter 6: Wave part 2

The forest looked quite peaceful that day as Naruko stood with Asuma in front of Gatou's hide out, they were going to pretend that they were betraying the village to get into his mansion without much fighting and then once they were inside everyone would attack from their positions which they were waiting for a confirmation that they were there over the radio Naruko had on.

"Cloud,Rose and Axe in position."

"Herbs and no brows in position."

"Panda, Green and Lavender in position."

"Beast, Weasel and illusion in position."

"Alright, remember to wait for our signal." Naruko said before knocking on the large doors in front of her.

"What is the signal?" Lee asked from his position.

"You wont miss it. Trust me." Naruko said as the guards led them in after Asuma convinced them of their reason for being there. They had already scratched over their headbands to make it look like they were already defected. They were lead to Gatous personal study where said man was waiting with a sea of bodyguards. They could see the business tycoons pleasure at the idea of having them along.

"So what brings the Shadow fang and one of the former twelve guardians to my humble abode?" Gatou said and Naruko smirked lightly.

"We heard that you had some trouble here with a bridge builder and decided to come and see if you wished to hire us to help you out. I am a master Assassin like you probably have heard. I have defeated the so called demon of the mist before so you do not have to worry about failure."

"Sounds interesting. How does getting paid lets say 20.000 ryo each now, then 20.000 ryo once you bring me his head?" Gatou asked and Naruko and Asuma looked at each other before nodding.

"Sounds good." Naruko said and Gatou nodded.

"Fantastic. Now here are two suitcases with your money. Now go and show the stupid bridge builder who not to mess with." Naruko and Asuma counted the money silently before nodding and heading outside again. They sealed the money into a scroll before Naruko made 20 clones and henged them into brutes before sending them to find any armory or treasury and empty them into scrolls. They then headed out and pretended to go towards the village of wave but really jumped into Itachi's, Kurenai's and Gai's hiding position once out of sight.

"He let us in. One of my clones will dispel once they have made 90% of the population weaponless by taking all of their weapons and Gatou poor by emptying the treasury. After that and once the only 2 clones who will bring the scrolls arrives and gives it to me, we will take a clone that is henged into Tazuna and bring it alive to Gatou, making him think he has won. After that I will signal you all and then you will attack while we kill everyone from the inside. Understood?" Naruko explained and the jounin in front of her just nodded dumbly.

"Good. One of my clones just dispelled so the two are on their way." With that the clones appeared and handed Naruko two scrolls which held 20 smaller scrolls each and she put it into pockets on her vest.

Naruko then had one clone henge into Tazuna and they pushed said clone ahead of them towards the hide out. When the guards saw them coming they smirked and opened the door for them. They walked straight to Gatou's office and when they arrived the tycoon looked pleasantly surprised at seeing the bridge builder with them. Naruko pushed the clone to his knees roughly but not roughly enough to dispel him.

"We thought maybe that you would want the pleasure of killing him yourself." Asuma said and Gatou laughed.

"Aye. That is a good thought. Here is the rest of your payment, as promised. Now leave me."

"Thank you for your business." Naruko said before they walked out of the office and then counted the money and then sealing it up with the rest. Then Naruko sent Asuma ahead and made 10 clones to slap explosive tags all over the building. She barred all the doors and then headed outside. The signal would not be missed, that was for sure. She noticed the moment the clones finished putting the explosives up and ran faster placing some on to the walls herself while at it.

Asuma was waiting for her outside and that was the moment her Tazuna clone was dispelled and Gatous angry yell could be heard. The bandits that heard it ran inside to check what was the matter and Naruko barred the doors before pulling Asuma with her to start running away from the building before making one seal and yelling "KAI". Within 5 seconds the whole building exploded along with most of the surrounding wall.

With the rest of the teams in their respective positions, there was only one thought on their mind as they attacked the rest of the men there, 'I definitely did not miss that.'

Due to so many having been inside the building when it exploded the fighting was easy as pie after that. All of the mercenaries were killed and they then headed back to Tazunas house without any injuries.

Inari ran out to greet them as they arrived and it could be seen on his face that he was a different boy after Naruko took him on a small one on one talk the night before. Naruko ruffled his hair and then after getting a nod from her sensei took him to teach him to swim and fish, shinobi style and also to teach him to hunt wild animals. She had made him a bow which fit his size and taught him to make arrows. He had asked her to teach him to provide for his family without wasting much money. He was good at shooting with a bow and arrow since he had sometimes used his mini-crossbow.

Naruko also created plenty of clones towards the bridge to speed up the building process and let Tazuna know Gatou was dead. Tenten watched the girl go with a smile on her face, knowing the girl would make a great mother one day considering how well she treated kids. All of the kids in the town adored her since she brought them food the day before and people had thanked them once they heard Gatou was dead.

* * *

-2 weeks later-

After two weeks in wave the country was looking much better. The bridge had been finished the day before and Tazuna had been named the villages major for his guts. The konoha 13 plus their senseis, Itachi, Zabuza and Haku were all standing in front of the bridge saying goodbye. The town was also revealing the name of the bridge before they went.

Tazuna pulled the rope that was attached to the cloth hiding the front of the bridge from view. It revealed the name which was The Great Naruko Uzumaki Bridge, and 4 statues, 2 on each end which were of Naruko either aiming her bow or using her steel claws. It was clear that Wave now considered Naruko their protector and since konoha was officially Waves protector during hard times now that they had formed an allegiance of sorts which would cause all missions requested from wave would go to Konoha then she was. Naruko had handed the half of the money that she found in Gatous hide out that rightly belonged to wave to Tazuna who used it to bring the country from its ass and the other half that belonged to her and konoha she kept with her.

Everyone could see the shock on Narukos face and the envy on Sasukes while the others just whistles in amazement at the details of the statues they stood in front of. Naruko thanked Tazuna for the greatest gift that she could ever be given and promised that as long as she lived she would not tolerate any injustice being thrown at the land of waves. Inari was holding back tears as she ruffled his hair goodbye and she told him it was okay to cry every once in awhile before leaving towards konoha with the others in tow.

* * *

-Konoha, 8 hours later-

They had just arrived in Konoha and after showing their id's and the scroll which allowed Zabuza and Haku in the village went straight o the hokage tower to report in. Naruko handed the money scrolls to Hiruzen who handed them all their pay before storing the rest away to be taken to a bank. They then told him how the mission went and then left to get some rest since it was already late in the afternoon.

When she arrived at her apartment Naruko went straight to her work shop and put the scrolls which held all of the weapons she had salvaged on the mission and she intended on melting down to use into something else and also put up the animal skins and started making them into leather. After working on that for about 2 hours she went down and made herself light dinner and then took a bath before putting up all of the security seals around her apartment and then heading to bed, finally relaxing all of her defenses down.

-3 months later before the start of the chuunin exams-

Naruko looked bored as she was yet again being reprimanded for sneaking into the Anbu headquarters and placing paint bombs all over the building in front of all of the jounin and chuunin of the village. The group around her included Haku and Zabuza who looked at the blond with amused looks on their face. They had moved into the same apartment complex that Naruko lived in since Haku was officially her adopted sister and had endless access to her large pool of money.

* * *

-Asuma's pov-

Asuma was fighting back a smile since he knew his student was just bored since they had not gotten any missions above d-rank lately and she was tired of doing chores. She was wearing her black sports bra and camouflage cargo pants, showing off her athletic figure, many of the men in the room were drooling since she looked older than she actually was. She was turning 13 in 2 months yet looked 15 with her figure.

She had only been growing stronger along with her team-mates in the past 3 months and was known for the armor and weapons she made among the shinobi ranks. The golden spear sold all of her work for her since she had become good friends with Tenten Higurashi. Asuma couldn't feel prouder of his team, they had made it far and all of them would probably make chuunin in the upcoming exams. Naruko and Shikamaru were a definite in that matter, both having proved their ability to plan and lead a mission with the least casualties and injuries.

Ino and Chouji were both good leaders when provoked to be so and made good decisions even if they were hard ones. They knew each others abilities like the back of their hand and worked together like a well oiled machine. With Narukos and his own training 6 of 7 clan heirs in their year were chuunin level or higher.

Team 7 still had major problems since they could not work together unless forced to do so and the only one who seemed to be getting any training was Sasuke, Sakura just watched while Sai was already talented being an anbu agent so the team was too unstable to even be considered for the chuunin exams but Asuma knew that the civilian council would demand it and the younger uchiha would be allowed in to keep them silent. He kind of felt sorry for the position Kakashi had been placed in since Itachi had refused to train his brother due to him always trying to kill him whenever he could. The younger uchiha had been charged with assault more often than anyone in the village over the last 7 months since Itachi was cleansed of any charges against him and the truth was revealed about the massacre.

Asuma just hoped that once they were in the exams that Sasuke would leave his own student alone, since she had a license to kill during the exam, and while the uchiha was annoying and bratty then it would only be bad for Naruko if she killed him.

* * *

-Narukos pov-

After the old man was done giving her an earful about her behavior and had her pay for the cleaners to clean out the headquarters and the anbu outfits, Naruko was allowed to leave. She knew that the meeting that she had been shoved into was probably about the chuunin exams so she went straight home to pass time until she was summoned by her sensei.

She put some music on before starting to train, the newest CD by Skillet. She ran on the ceiling to train both chakra control and stamina. She was on her 80th lab around the ceiling when there was a knock on her door. She jumped down and opened the door slowly to reveal Asuma who had obviously just gotten off the meeting.

"Come on, we have a joint team training with team 8 and 9. Everyone is already there." Asuma said and waited while Naruko grabbed her black vest and then they jumped to the rooftops below and ran towards training ground 9. When they arrived everyone was in uproar because team 7 had appeared with the hokage and Sasuke had started behaving like a stuck up asshole like always.

Itachi was there along with their old academy instructor Iruka. The hokage explained that since there was some harsh debate about whether or not the rookie 10 should be allowed to join the chuunin exams or not then they wished to test them against team 9 and each other. 6 of the genin's names were placed in a box and 6 others would pull out a paper with the name of the person they would spar with, the only name that wasn't in there was Naruko's since it was already known she could handle the exams so she was the royal champion of sorts, she would be the one that the winner of all the former spars would spar with.

The spars were set up like this, they would fight with all they had but would not kill their opponent or seriously injure for 20 minutes. The one that had the most hits in by the end of the spar would win and continue onto the next round.

Then who would fight who was announced and it went like this:

Round 1:

Tenten vs Shikamaru – Tenten wins

Sasuke vs Lee- Lee wins

Neji vs Sakura – Neji wins

Ino vs Chouji – Chouji wins

Sai vs Kiba – Sai wins

Hinata vs Shino – Hinata wins

Round 2:

Tenten vs Hinata – Hinata wins

Lee vs Neji – Neji wins

Sai vs Chouji – Sai wins

Round 3:

Sai vs Neji – Sai wins

Sai vs Hinata – Sai wins

Round 4:

Naruko vs Sai.

Naruko stood up when her name was called and stretched to get rid of any tension in her muscles before walking over to where Sai was waiting. She had her bracers on and looked relaxed and lazy where she stood facing him.

"Come at me pretty boy. Before you die of old age." Naruko finally said after no movement being made for some time. This caused the boy to start drawing on his scroll and start having his drawings attack her only to be destroyed within 5 seconds of them being made and then clenching her fists, Naruko struck with her steel claws and didn't give the boy any more time to make more drawings due to her not giving him any space to even breathe between dodging her strikes.

Naruko managed eventually to land a hard kick to his stomach which knocked the wind out of him but he kept on dodging her claws since she wasn't really holding back. One hit with them and he would get scars. She kept him on the defensive the entire fight only stopping her assault once the whistle was blown. By that time Sai was exhausted and Naruko just offered him the sign of harmony which he returned and then walked off to the side to his team.

"Winner of the last match: Naruko." Hiruzen announced before turning to the assembled people. "Lets head to my offi-" he was cut off as a large wave of sand came and covered Naruko up to her chest as she was lifted into the air, causing everyone to yell out in shock except for Itachi and Naruko who just paled once she saw who it was.

"Long time no see..."

* * *

-x-x-x-x-

An: Who is it. Anyone who can guess right gets a cookie... :P


	7. Chapter 7:Fire to the leaf?

An: **IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT!: **Alrighty, there will be some armor making in this chappy. i will put up links on my page for those that wish to know what each armor is like.

* * *

Chapter 7: Fire to the leaf?

The konoha 12 turned to see a red haired kid with a large gourd on his back which was where the sand was coming from, a blond haired girl with a large fan on her back and a dude in a cat suit with make up on his face.

"Gaara, what a pleasant surprise!" Naruko said nervously, she knew she had been forgetting something all of those months she had been in konoha. Sending Gaara a letter. She had met him after they clashed on a mission where she was supposed to kill the person he was protecting. She had sensed he was a jinchuriki like her and since the boy was unstable she fixed his seal which obviously worked. He had allowed her to get the guy he was protecting since she explained he was a child molester and wanted dead by over 10 people.

She could see her friends preparing to attack the boy and told them no.

"Uzumaki, what happened to keeping in touch?" Gaara said glaring at his blond friend.

"I forgot I'm sorry, you know how I get when I have too many things on my mind. I forget stuff even if they are important to me. You know I would never abandon you, we are the same and you are my best friend. Please let me down and let me make it up to you?"

"Fine." Gaara said giving a small smirk "You have to take me out to all I can eat BBQ."

"Deal." Naruko said and she was lowered to the ground and looking around she could see everyone looking at her with a questioning look.

"I'm guessing you are here for the Chuunin exams Gaara?" Naruko asked ignoring the questioning looks and walking over to embrace her old friend.

"Hai." Gaara said before glaring at her for being taller than him. "I hate my shortness..."

"You just haven't had your growth spurt yet. Don't you worry, I bet you will be taller than me in no time."

Naruko and Gaara then started walking away from the group with cat suit dude and then girl with the fan in tow, Asuma called after her to be on the training ground at 8 am for training. Everyone looked at Itachi to have him explain what exactly was going on between the two.

"Naruko met the kid while on an assignment 2 years ago. They share many similarities including being shunned in their village for things out of their reach, Hokage-sama. I will explain further in private with you later. The short story is that they became friends and Naruko forgot to write him back since she has been busy around the village. I guess he was slightly miffed about it. But he would never intentionally hurt Naruko in any way which is why I did not interfere and also why she did not allow you to attack him." Itachi simply said and everyone nodded in understanding slowly.

"Alrighty then." Hiruzen said as the genin were dismissed and then headed to his office with the jounin and chuunin instructor to discuss what they had seen.

* * *

-with Naruko and the sand siblings-

Naruko sweat dropped as Gaara consumed a mountain of grilled BBQ ribs, he had fallen for the thing when she was eating some once and had been obsessed with it since then. She personally had fnished two mountains of them earlier but Chouji was the biggest eater of their team so she wasn't worrying about her wallet becoming empty. They were sitting in Chouji's family run BBQ place so Naruko got some discount when she paid but Gaara did not have to know that.

She then led the sand siblings to her apartment where they sat down in the living room and started talking. Naruko noticed that Gaara was being unusually quiet.

"Something the matter Gaara?" Naruko asked after tolerating his silence for long enough.

"Our father is planning an invasion of the leaf during the exams." Gaara replied making his siblings nod.

"Why, when and how?" Naruko asked all three questions in one go.

"Orochimaru of the sannin has his own village, otogakure, he made an allegiance to bring fire to the leaf with our father. Our father has been insane for some time now and the village is suffering for it. They will strike in the 3rd exam, they are relying on me losing control of the shukaku and bring ruin to the village. Normally I would not have minded attacking the leaf because it treated you badly but you live here now, you will be fighting in the battle and I do not wish to see you get hurt. There is also a traitor in your midst, a man named Kabuto. He is Orochimarus lackey."

"I see. Would you mind telling all of this to the Hokage?"

Gaara just shrugged before Naruko made them all grab her so she could use the shunshin to get there undetected. When they got there Itachi was in the middle of explaining Gaara to the hokage. He stopped when he saw them there.

"Gaara told me important information and I will not tolerate him or his siblings being harmed due to it." At the hokages nod she continued. "Suna and Otogakure are planning on an invasion during the final exam. Orochimaru is the kage of Otogakure and has a informant in our midst named Kabuto who is working for him so he can probably give us more information if he is brought in for questioning." Naruko said before allowing her friends to take over from there to explain the rest.

After everything was explained the hokage summoned Shikamaru's father to his office to discuss sand siblings eventually went to their motel room so that their sensei who was a supporter of the war wouldn't suspect their betrayal. Naruko stayed behind and only returned home at 4 am and when she did she saw that Itachi had cooked dinner for her and left it for her to heat up when she came home. She quickly ate before heading to bed, she had never felt as exhausted as right then.

* * *

-With Team 8 to 10 the next morning at team 9's training ground-

Asuma, Itachi,Gai and Kurenai all walked into the training ground at 8am sharp and saw their genin waiting. Though eventually it was obvious they were one short. Itachi frowned since his blond sister figure hadn't been home for dinner last night and was now late for training, it wasn't like her at all. They took their genin with them to check whether she was at her apartment. Itachi letting them in and soon saw that she had been home last night at least since her dinner was gone.

He told them to wait while he checked the rest of the apartment and found her sleeping in her bed with her alarm clock broken into tiny pieces. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbing a bucket and filling it with cold water dumped it on the blond who jumped up screaming bloody murder.

"The hell Itachi?!" Naruko growled once she realized who it was who threw water over her. Itachi kind of felt bad when he saw how tired his little sister figure looked.

"You were late for training."

"I was up all night speaking with the hokage idiot. He was going to send a message to all jounins to join him in his office today since Gaara brought him information from Suna. Now leave me alone while I dry my bed and go back to sleep." Naruko ground out and kicked Itachi out of her room before locking her door. Naruko then used a light fire jutsu to dry her bed while grumbling stuff about stupid people. She then laid back down on her bed after changing clothes and going back to sleep, she would worry about making stronger security seals later that day.

* * *

-With Itachi and the rest-

Itachi just stared at his sisters bedroom door in surprise since he had never expected her to throw him out. She had almost looked upset with him even when he had woken her up like this many times before. He then looked at Asuma, Gai and Kurenai before they dismissed their teams and shunshined to the hokage's office. They were the last ones to arrive to a meeting like Naruko had predicted.

"Alright, now that everyone is here. Last night I got some serious information from an ally of ours in Suna. Otogakure and Suna are going to attack us during the final exam of the Chuunin exams. We have captured and are currently questioning an informant of Orochimaru's that he has had stationed in Konoha for years. We would never have known of the invasion before it was too late if it weren't for Gaara of the sand, his siblings and Naruko who convinced Gaara to speak with me personally. They are on our side if anyone's in this fight." Hiruzen started before continuing.

"I have already started preparations for the security system to be strengthened before the exams. Our seal masters are working on strong seals which will do all sorts of damage to enemy troops during the invasion and Nara Shikaku has the strategy team working on new positions to patrol and how we can use our forces in the best and most efficient way. The informant had already given the information up of patrols and our military strength so I will be calling all available ninja home as soon as they are able and missions outside the village that can be held off until after the exams will be. We will be stronger in numbers and catch the enemy off guard. I expect of all of you to do your best in the upcoming 2 months and those of you with a genin team to inform them of the situation and to train them to their best ability before the start of the exams in a month. Dismissed."

Itachi turned to the other 3 jounin and all of them gave a nod, knowing what he was thinking. It was time for some harsh survival training in the forest of death.

* * *

-Naruko's workshop later that day-

Naruko had 20 clones working on security seals while she had other 3 making leather and another 3 sharpening weapons. She was herself making some new armor for shinobi's of the village that would protect them against all sharp pointy things but allow them the same amount of speed, she had been working on the design for months and already had over 500 armors ready for use. The hokage had asked her to speed up the production so for the next week Naruko would be making more. She heard Itachi entering the workshop but didn't look up from where she was hammering a piece of steel into place.

"Naruko. The jounin and I are planning on taking the genin teams into the forest of death for survival training for the 3 weeks before the exams. We would be leaving in a week and it would be wise to take you too along with Zabuza and Haku. I know that you are busy making seals and armor for the village but if we help you maybe we can get it done in time." Itachi said quietly and Naruko just kept the work up until Itachi sighed and turned to leave.

"I will come with you on the training trip. But I will finish this myself. I am almost done. Only 500 armors to go. The golden spear is taking care of the weapon's not me and the clones are doing a good job on the seals. I will help the hokage put them all over the village later." Naruko finally spoke up and Itachi nodded before hesitating slightly before asking.

"What is bothering you today? You haven't been like this for years, so serious and detached it's unnerving for me when I know the real you."

"People I know will die or get hurt because some idiot out there desires to bring war to us. That's the problem. You, Jiji and Jiraya are the most precious to my heart along with Gaara, Zabuza and Haku. And the team along with Asuma and team 8 and 9 are fast becoming close to me. All of you will be in danger because of Orochimaru's plan." Naruko said finishing her 503rd armor and starting the 504th.

"I don't like it nii-san. I want to be able to protect you all and not lose anyone. I know it is stupid and foolish but I can't help it. I know that being a shinobi means eventually losing a friend but I can't help but think that one day, everyone will understand each other and be allies and peace will reign once more. I want to see that day, and I want everyone else to do it too."

"I agree Naruko, but this war is coming up and we have to fight, all of us. You can be the biggest asset in the fight and protect us all by giving us your armor and seals. But you can't change when someone's time is up. One day all of us will die, some will go before anyone else. Most of the genin will be in evacuating the citizens and protecting them along with some chuunin like you know. Jiraya will be fighting Orochimaru with you, Hiruzen and me. Gaara will be hidden away so he wont freak out and let the shukaku free on accident with his siblings. Everyone will be relatively safe and yes, there will be casualties but not that many and we will prevail. We have to." Itachi said ruffling his sisters hair before sitting down and making some clones of himself, started helping her and made the gauntlets for the armor she was making.

She had already finished 550 of them and was ahead in that matter but it never hurt to finish one thing and then start helping with the other. They worked in silence throughout the night and then went to bed at 8 am leaving clones of themselves to keep working.

* * *

-5 days later, on top of the hokage tower-

Naruko stood with Hiruzen atop the hokage tower along with over 100 chuunin and jounin shinobi. She was going to create over 100 clones of herself who would draw seals all over the village with the help of the shinobi in front of her who would tell her where to place them. She had been working almost non stop on different designs and testing them to perfection. Eventually she had seals that would throw powerful genjutsu over enemy shinobi once activated. A team of chuunin would be standing by each seal and activating it and then kill the enemy while it was under.

Then there were seals which would throw explosives and nets at enemies when activated by jounin from afar.

She created the clones and then headed home to finish the last pieces of armor needed. She already had her own piece of armor which was made of black leather. The village was as ready as it could be by the end of the day and everyone went in for testing the armor and Shinji Higurashi took care of fitting each armor to each person, only making minor changes. Not giving away the maker only telling them that it was a shinobi of the leaf which made them safe. Naruko had also made armor for the dogs of the Inusuka clan which was greatly appreciated by the clan.

Naruko stood in her room packing stuff that she would use on the training trip. She put on her armor and claws before sealing the back pack and scrolls with seals, traps and all of her hunting gear, arrows and her bow,her tent and sleeping bag. She also took twin hatchets with her which she liked more than any of her weapons.

After placing the scroll into one of the pockets on the front of her armor she put the hatchets into their place on her back and then shunshined to the meeting place in front of the forest of death.

* * *

-x-x-x-x-

An: All done for now. How do you like? the next chapter will be training in the forest.


	8. Chapter 8:the forest of death

Warning: chapter ahead is dramatic.

-x-x-x-

Chapter 8: The forest of death

Naruko and the rest of the genin followed their sensei's plus Itachi, Jiraya who had tagged along since the council had demanded it to be so, Zabuza and Haku through the forest before they seemingly appeared in an location that was safe enough by a small mountain which had a large cave which held a small natural hot-spring with a small waterfall in it inside a side room which was lighted by a hole in the ceiling. They all put up their tents inside the cave so that no one could get behind them. They would be sharing a tent, 3 in one tent except for jounin's. since it was safer but Naruko was the only one who got her own tent since she was stubborn about not sharing along with Jiraya.

Haku, Zabuza and Itachi shared one, Neji, Lee and Gai shared one, Tenten, Ino and Hinata shared one, Shino, Kiba and Chouji one and Shikamaru shared with Asuma and Kurenai. Then there was Naruko, who was putting up her tent just inside the cave so it was obvious that she would be the first one to know if someone was attacking. She then helped put up traps before heading out to hunt and gather firewood with the other genin.

Since they would be staying in the woods for 3 weeks they decided to hunt enough food to last them that time since Naruko could keep them fresh and also chopped down enough wood to last them throughout their stay. They also filled 20 water-skins, 14 of which were their own, other 6 were extras that they had brought along. Haku then taught them some stuff about herbs, telling them what plants would make poison and what plants would heal while also teaching them what plants could be eaten and what could be used as spices for food. After that it was time to tell the genin about why they were out in the forest training and not in the village.

"So. Most of you don't know this but probably have noticed more and more shinobi patrolling the village or your parents being gone more. This is because there will be an invasion during the exams. We received this information mostly thanks to Naruko who brought her friend Gaara to the hokage with information against the promise that he or his siblings would not get hurt for their fathers actions. Naruko also has created armor for all shinobi of the leaf, we have your armors here with us to get you used to them before the fight. You will not be in the middle of the fighting though, since you will be serving a much more important job that is evacuating civilians and children and then protecting them from harm." Itachi said and the genin nodded silently.

"I vote for Naruko to be our leader." Kiba said and all of the genins agreed but then the jounin looked at them sadly.

"Naruko wont be with you. She has to fight alongside with the hokage." Asuma said gently and knew that they probably would have to explain why.

"Why?"

"The civilian council and the hokages advisers ordered it to be so. Though this was already decided before they did, since we already knew it would happen." Naruko said making everyone look at her. She looked thoughtful as she thought about the meeting that had happened before they could head into the forest the day before and so the trip had been shortened a day.

-flashback-

_Naruko and Asuma were summoned to the council room with the rest of the jounin. They dismissed the genin telling them to be ready to head out the next day and then shunshined to the hokage towers council room. The hokage looked at them sadly as they arrived and they knew that it was about what they thought. Naruko being the villages ''weapon'' and should be protecting the hokage. The civilian council looked gleeful at the fact. _

"_Hokage- sama, why are we summoned here? We were about to go train." Asuma said feigning ignorance. _

"_The council voted on a matter that I dislike but alas the decision was made for me. Naruko is to be fighting beside me, and protecting me during the invasion. She can only leave my side to compete in the exams but once the invasion starts she has to take every hit for me or her life is forfeit. The council made the vote, there were 7 in favor and 6 against. I am sorry Naruko." Hiruzen said looking at the girl sadly even though they both knew this would happen and had already planned for it._

-flashback end-

"Why do they order a genin to fight alongside the villages leader?" Tenten asked what was on everyone's mind.

"Because Naruko is not just a genin. She is, in the civilian councils and the foolish advisers minds, the villages secret weapon since birth. The clan heads and hokage disagree since it was not the 4th hokages intention when he did what he did to make her a weapon." Jiraya explained before continuing and it could be heard he did not like the advisers at all.

"On the night of the kyuubi attack it was known that no human being could kill the kyuubi, so he had to be sealed away once more. But no grown man can seal such a beast away without dying and releasing him once more, it had to be a new born child... the only child that was born on that day was Naruko. He sealed the 9-tails in her, sealing her fate to one of pain and suffering. But the 3rd hokage changed that by forbidding everyone that was old enough to remember that night to ever speak of the fact that she was a jinchuriki to the younger generations. To do so was a death sentence. He did this to make sure she at least had a chance to earn friends that would realize the difference between her and the fox. Sadly the villagers don't get that Naruko saves them everyday and demand her head every other week on a council meeting. Just this time they demand she be the villages weapon during the invasion. She is to sacrifice her own life and limbs for the hokage, if she fails and he even gets a scratch on him. Her life is forfeit." Jiraya finished leaving all the genin speechless.

"Is it really so hard for them to realize that if you seal a kunai in a scroll then the scroll does not become the kunai?" Tenten asked looking kind of angry.

"They don't know sealing. That is their main problem and that they can't really be angry at something that's sealed away so they point their hatred at Naruko." Itachi said and the genin shook their heads in shame.

"So you are kind of like the branch family of the hyuuga clan? Bound by a seal to an unchangeable fate?" Neji asked the golden haired girl who shook her head chuckling.

"No, Neji. We are not the same. The branch family has a choice, as much as you refuse to see it. Yes ,you are required to give up your life for the main house if the time comes, but as much as they would like to claim so, they do not control what you do until then. Some of you live to become old, older than the main branch in some cases. It doesn't happen often that you are forced to do anything. Me? I have no choice. It was taken from me the day I was born." Naruko said before continuing when she saw them listening.

"The only real choice I have made for myself was leaving when I was 8. If I had never returned the council would have found a way to mark me as a missing nin and have me killed eventually. I will be lucky, if I reach the age of 25 Neji. Most of the jinchuriki don't. The ones that do are connected to the kage in their village and have proven their worth to the civilians. I try to do that but in the end I get thrown to the wolves at the slightest chance. It is the fate of jinchuriki to die for their village, no matter what." Naruko took a deep breath and then decided to finish and tell them about Gaara as proof of her words.

"Even as I say this, Gaara is facing the same fate in his village. He is the 4th kazekages son yet his father wishes to see him lose control of the shukaku and defeat us and if he fails he is to be killed in his moment of weakness. The moment you are chosen to be jinchuriki, your life is pain. You are shunned, starved, kicked out of orphanages or attacked on your birthday and everyday. I was kicked out of the orphanage when I was 5, I starved on the streets for 6 months and was attacked every single day of my life, before the hokage could locate me and help me by giving me an apartment but even that was not safe since the civilian council didn't allow me to get one in a safe location. I was put in the red district where the danger lurks around every corner. When I joined the academy the instructors tried to kill me. That was when I decided to leave. Now I stand, back in a village that wishes nothing more than to see me 6 feet under and am about to face one of the legendary sannin and I have never felt as scared in my life. So no Neji, we are not the same."

The genin stared at her in shock as she walked inside the cave and decided to take a bath in the hot-spring alone. The genin were left behind in deep thought since they had 1. never heard her speak so much at one time throughout the 6 months she had been back. And 2. they were shocked that Neji had for once been shut up about fate. Later that night Naruko took first watch alone since she did not desire any company. Jiraya decided to just sit by the fire just in case something happened and since the pervert was not usually easy to budge once he decided she left him alone.

She sat by the opening of the cave when he saw her shivering. He took a blanket and put it over her shoulders making her look up. He then sat beside her just studying her.

"You know. Just because the civilians don't see it then everyone else does, that you are not the fox. You fight for a noble reason Naruko, to protect those close to you. It was what your father did too. I know you hate him, but I know he would be proud of who you are today. Him and Kushina made a bad choice that day since they both died. Even when your mother could have survived the birth and the extraction of the fox due to her Uzumaki blood." Jiraya said before looking at her and seeing her still listening with an angry scowl on her face. "

One of them should have been here to protect you, and me and Tsunade should have been here too as your godparents. You are not a weapon Naruko, you are a soldier. Keep that in mind as you fight Orochimaru. And also, that Without Fear, there can not be courage. One can't exist without the other. You are brave, and your will to live is strong. You will prevail and once you do, everyone will respect you and see you for who you are. Sensei intends on letting everyone know who saved the village the most once the invasion is over. The hate will grow less Naruko. Believe in that and no matter what, you will live to become an old woman who sits on her porch yelling curses at kids who are being too loud." Jiraya finished jokingly before ruffling her hair and then headed to bed.

"I do not simply fight to protect people precious to me Jiraya, I wish to end all wars and bring peace to the shinobi world. I will become the strongest, and the most respected person in this world. And then I will find a way, some common goal among people and end the pain and suffering. Even if it costs me my life." Naruko said as he walked away before looking up at the sky.

Jiraya nodded silently and as he entered his tent he looked over his shoulder with a smile. '_you will go far kid. And I will stay here and write your story the entire way and guide you there. For you are the true inheritor of the will of fire.'_

* * *

-3 weeks later.-

Naruko walked around the village slowly on the way to the first exam of the chuunin exams. People did not recognize her with the hood up so they just mostly ignored her. Shinobi that were friendly with her nodded in greeting to her as she passed which she returned. Everyone was in position and had the hand-seals which would activate the painted seals and rain hell on the enemy when they attacked.

Kabuto had given a lot of information while under torture by the T&I Duo, Anko and Ibiki. And was thoroughly broken by the end of it all. After that they sealed his memory and then sent him on his way to keep Orochimaru under the idea that no one knew anything about his plan. They had also found out that Orochimaru had already killed the 4th kazekage in the desert just outside Suna and had been impersonating him ever since.

The moment they heard this and found the Kazekage's body. Suna pulled out of the invasion without letting Orochimaru know, and promised to aid them in the fight instead of betraying them. Baki was the leader since the kazekage died and since he knew Gaara wasn't a monster and had a pull with the konoha's jinchuriki then the fight would be needless and konoha could easily send more missions their way if they asked.

Konoha still kept on its toes though to make sure that they would not be betrayed and even if they told their shinobi that suna was planning on helping out in the fight then they kept their defenses a secret.

Naruko sighed as the academy came into view and she saw her team waiting. The last three weeks they had been growing stronger along with Naruko. Though it could be seen that they were worried about her. They had come up with million ideas how she could escape her duty but the jounin knew it was impossible. If she was not by the hokages side protecting him then the council would have her executed.

Jiraya had taught her the rasengan after having her do some more chakra control training. She had difficulty with it at first but eventually got a hang of it. He also gave her the toad summoning contract and then since the kyuubi demanded for her to have the foxes too the tattoo suddenly appeared on her arm. The toads just shook their heads at the fox's stubbornness but agreed to her having the foxes too since they knew that it wasn't her will to have them but it was not about to be changed now.

She walked up to the other three genin of team 10 and nodded in greeting. They then headed inside the building and up to the third floor, ignoring the crowd on the second floor, falling for the genjutsu on the door. Team 8 and 9 were already in the examination room when they arrived and they grouped together in a corner. Soon Gaara joined them with his siblings. They spoke in low volume for awhile before team 10 decided to activate a telepathic connection amongst themselves, they could speak with each other and whatever the exam was they would be able to stay in contact and calm each other down.

Ibiki then appeared and started explaining the first exam to them. It was a written test which would test their ability in the field by asking them different questions that involved making decisions. He had them draw numbers and sit down at random and team 10 was glad for their ability to speak telepathically thanks to Ino's mind techniques and therefore would be able to get the answers from each other.

After that they were handed the examination paper which only held 9 questions. Ibiki explained that the 10th question would be asked later after the written ones. Shikamaru and Naruko supplied the rest of their team with answers since they either knew the answers or could get them from the chuunin that were hidden among the genin in the room, acting like they were taking the test.

After that they just waited until the tenth question. They noticed their friends finishing the test along with Gaara's team but could see most of team 7 struggling while Sai just stared into the air.

Once the hour was up they were asked the tenth question.

"Alright. Before you maggots take the question you have an important question to ask yourselves, to take or to not take this question. If you choose not to you and your team will leave the building and quit the exams. But if you choose to take the question and answer it wrong you will fail the exam and never be allowed to take the chunin exams ever again." Ibiki said causing the room to go into uproar.

Many quit once they realized that the scarred man was serious but the konoha 13 stayed. Eventually more people left until Ibiki was somewhat satisfied with the answer and then told them they all passed. Since the choice was the 10th question and then explained that a chuunin must be able to take chances even when risking something else that might be more important.

After that the window to their left was broken by a black cloth which had a short text on it.

"Names Mitarashi Anko and I will be the proctor of the second exam. Follow me to the forest of death you weaklings!" Anko said where she stood and the genin in the room rushed to follow her once she left. There were in total 73 people left, or 24 teams.

Naruko smirked, the next exam would be interesting.

-x-x-x-

Yes. Drama is thick in this one indeed. I hope I can be forgiven for this.


	9. Chapter 9: Snake bites

Chapter 9: Snake bites

Team 10, 9 and 8 were back by the cave they had stayed in for three weeks just a day prior and were activating security seals that had been inactivated when they left. It hid the cave opening from spying eyes and also any signs of humans being there. Team 10 then went hunting while Team 9 went to get water and team 8 gathered firewood and guarded the campsite.

They quickly brought down a giant boar ,and after skinning it,brought it back before cutting the body into pieces. Team 8 had a large campfire going when they arrived and took the meat and readied it for cooking with the herbs chouji had picked along the way and when team 9 arrived with water they started cooking. Meanwhile they started discussing how they would capture other teams that had the scrolls they needed. Team 10 had heaven while team 9 and 8 had earth.

They agreed to work together instead of against each other so they had teamed up since safety was in numbers. Naruko then sent out 50 clones of herself into the forest to locate teams so they could attack during the night. In the last 3 weeks they had gotten to know the forest like the back of their hand by going on trips across the forest and had Naruko draw a map of it by the end of each day with the easiest routes to and from each notable place. Including the dens where the most dangerous animals and insects lived.

By the end of dinner 5 of her clones had found 5 different teams which had the scrolls they needed. They traveled to each point together since they would be easier to overpower with their numbers. One of the 5 teams was team 7. Sakura tried to stop them from attacking them by claiming that comrades should not attack each other even during an exam.

Their reply to that was laughing since they knew that if the roles were reversed then they would not hesitate to do the same thing to get their scroll. They told Sakura that the exams were everyone against everyone. No one was allied even from the same village unless you made an allegiance like they had. That was when a large gust of wind came at them out of nowhere and Team 10 were blown away since they had not expected it. The other 9 people stayed put but teams 8 and 9 looked worriedly in the direction that their friends were thrown.

That was when 2 teams from sound arrived along with someone they never expected to see, Orochimaru.

* * *

-with team 10-

Naruko groaned as she woke up from hitting an large rock, hard. Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji all had escaped the damn thing but were also rubbing sore places that would bruise. They then stood up and started looking around and the next thing they noticed is them being surrounded by 4 large snakes which looked kind of hungry.

Naruko clenched her fists making the claws come out before sighing and then sliding into a light taijutsu stance that Gai had made with her claws in mind. She then jumped up to the largest snakes head and slashed through it. And when it vanished in a poof she knew it was Orochimaru attacking them. Her team-mates got rid of two of the snakes while Naruko took care of the last one before they hurried back the way they came.

Their friends were all struggling to fight with the sound teams while Orochimaru was just toying around with the Uchiha. Sai was bleeding badly on the ground so Naruko sent Ino over to him since she knew the most about healing out of all of them. Sakura was crying in a corner and Sasuke was struggling badly with Orochimaru who was mainly just kicking his ass. Naruko sent Chouji and Shikamaru to help team 9 and 8 with the sound teams before rushing forward to destroy Orochimaru by herself.

She used her claws to break the beating that was going on and managed to scratch the sannin's face due to his surprise at her joining the fight. She continued to strike but he kept dodging every strike. This frustrated the blond who started going faster and less rationally, just really aiming to hit the sannin even if it wasn't fatal.

Orochimaru used a rather large swing to kick her back and Naruko skid back a few steps before rushing back forward. All of the genin in the clearing stared in awe at the fearlessness that the blond was showing when facing a sannin that was by far, stronger than her. Orochimaru eventually seemed to grow frustrated when she didn't seem to be slowing so he got in a few hits and then used kusanagi to fight her.

Naruko just got faster at that and looking into her eyes Orochimaru could see that the kyuubi had lent her his strength which meant trouble for him so he decided to finish this quickly.

"Well Naru-chan it has been fun playing with you but it needs to end now." Orochimaru said locking her steel blades in a position over her head before whispering in her ear. "You should know better than to let your anger control you." He then made an elemental seal over the seal on her stomach knocking her out and then summoned a snake who swallowed her whole.

Once he did that he bit the Uchiha's neck and then left. The sound team's decided to yield and left their scrolls with them before leaving since they did not have much reason to be in the exams any more. After that Shikamaru started fighting the snake since he had to get his team-mate out and the others soon joined in. Shikamaru eventually allowed the snake to swallow him too and then found his blond team-mate about to get swallowed completely and stabbed a kunai to keep them both stuck before using a small wind jutsu to cut through the snake form the inside killing it instantly and then laid his team-mate on the ground.

They both smelled horrible so he picked her up and then started heading towards their hiding spot in the mountain with Ino, Hinata and Shino. The rest would take care of Team 7 getting to the tower to forfeit.

Tenten left one of the scrolls, the one Team 7 needed since Sai needed medical attention quickly and told Sakura to take the two boys to the tower and forfeit the exams, they were not ready yet. After that Kiba and Chouji made a shadow clone each which was all they could after the fighting and had them carry the two unconscious boys for her to the tower.

They then headed after the others. When they arrived in the clearing Shikamaru was taking a bath while Naruko was being watched over. Ino, Hinata and Tenten decided that they should change the girl out of the clothes and bathe her so that she wouldn't throw up when she woke so when Shikamaru was done bathing the three girls took hygiene stuff into the smaller cave along with a pair of fresh clothes for the blond and then while the younger two of them washed the clothes Tenten bathed the blond, making sure that there was no more slime in her hair or on her body. After that they redressed her and left her armor to dry.

They then put her in her tent and then went to make dinner and then stood watch with the others.

* * *

-the next day, Narukos pov-

Naruko slowly opened her eyes and immediately closed them when the headache hit her full force. She let out a small groan and lifted her hand to her head and slowly sat up. She saw Tenten sitting by the opening of her tent and looking at her.

"How do you feel?" the brunette asked after a minute of them staring at each other.

"Like my head got trampled by an herd of horses..." Naruko said and Tenten smiled before leaving the tent. Naruko heard her ask Ino for something that could ease the golden haired girls headache. 5 minutes later she came back into the tent with tea that was made of herbs that should help with the headache.

She drank the tea despite it not being the best tasting thing in the world. Out of all her friends, Tenten was the one closest to her except for Shikamaru and Chouji. Which was odd considering they had not known each other a year ago. But Naruko was not complaining. She had a strong sparring partner in the older girl and someone who didn't care about any darkness in her past. She still seemed to look up to the golden haired girl even when she was younger than her.

Naruko then started inspecting the new seal on her stomach and sighed. She could see that it would make using jutsu hard due to it messing with the normal flow between her and the kyuubi. He had placed an irregular number seal over a regular number. She would need help with removing it and she could not get hurt while she was getting there since the healing factor was no longer there. Naruko then stood up and despite the other girls protests walked out of her tent.

"We have to get to the tower as soon as possible." Naruko simply said when everyone looked up from what they were doing.

"Why?" Kiba asked.

"Orochimaru sealed off my connection to the kyuubi, he no longer heals me and since the loss of all the chakra in my body then I will not be able to use jutsu until it is removed. So unless you are ready to see me get hurt in a fight I suggest we get to the tower and see Jiraya there. He can remove the seal and I will have time to recover before the final exams." Naruko explained making everyone present nod in agreement before moving to gather their stuff together. Naruko just sealed her tent with her stuff inside it and then used water to put out the fire and then once everyone was ready they moved out towards the tower.

Her control had thankfully not gotten so bad that she could not jump across tree's. That would have made her trip too long.

-2 hours later, inside the towers hokage office-

Naruko and her friends were all shown into the hokage's office the moment they arrived since Sakura had brought word of what happened in the forest. Jiraya was already there since he had to seal up the Uchihas curse mark and also unseal the damage Orochimaru had done.

Jiraya simply indicated for Naruko to show him her seal and then seeing what type of seal it was he immediately started lighting his fingers with the seal that would undo it. He then rammed his hand into her stomach making the blond slide a few steps back with a loud groan.

Naruko then stood straight as the seal vanished and then fell unconscious as the Kyuubis chakra started flowing through her system once more.

* * *

-Shikamaru's pov-

Shikamaru caught her having suspected this would happen and then laid her down on the couch in the corner while they gave their report of what happened in the forest. They were then told that Team 7 had failed the exam since they had opened the scrolls before entering the tower. Chouji and Kiba just shook their heads since their clones had told the only conscious genin to walk into a room before opening them but it seemed that she had not listened. Sasuke Uchiha was under lock and key in the anbu's headquarters so that Orochimaru could not get to him and while they did not know what effect the cursed seal would have on him he would remain there. Sai was receiving medical attention while Sakura had been shown the way out of the forest and to her home.

Hiruzen then had them shown to apartments in the tower which would be their home the remainder of the exam which was 4 days considering the exam had started yesterday. The apartments were side by side and each room had 3 rooms except for Team 10's which was the biggest of the apartments. It had 4 bedrooms, 1 master bedroom which they decided that Naruko should have while the other three members took the other 3. The apartment was quite frankly a suite. It had a fully stocked kitchen, a living room with a flatscreen tv and ps3 gaming system along with a Billiard table and some shoji. All of the bedrooms had a bathroom connected to them and Naruko's was the biggest.

Shikamaru laid the golden haired girl on the queen sized bed in her temporary room and took off her shoes before leaving the room. He heard someone knocking on the door so he went to answer it. Gaara of the sand was standing on the other side, stone faced as ever along with his siblings. He let them in telling them that Naruko was still unconscious due to the seal having just been removed that Orochimaru had placed on her.

Gaara just nodded before walking into the golden haired girls room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

-Gaara's pov-

The moment door closed behind him he turned to the bed. Gaara could see his friend laying there sleeping and smiled softly. 'She really looks like an angel when she sleeps. So peaceful, like the world is not full of pain and suffering.'

Gaara walked forward and sat on the edge of the bed beside the blond studying her silently. He had wanted to run to her the moment she had entered the tower but she had been placed in a meeting with the hokage so he had to wait. And now she was unconscious so he still could not talk to her.

Out of everyone in his world she was the one that had never once looked at him in fear or disgust. She had understood who he was the moment they met. The moment they clashed she had offered him an helping hand and had his seal fixed so that he could sleep without the shukaku being able to gain control or eating his soul. She was his savior, his angel. And he wanted to be at her side at all times to protect her. But knew he could not.

He knew that they would be separated in the invasion and that it was necessary but he did not like it any more even at that. He was planning on escaping his imprisonment and helping against the sannin since he knew that if the hokage got hurt Naruko would lose her life. Though he knew that he could always take her with him to Suna if they decided upon that.

Gaara knew that he had what his sister called a crush on the girl and cared more deeply for her than a friend would but knew that even if they would date then they could never end up together. Since she would have to restart her clan in Konoha. He knew that she was planning on going to Uzushiogakure in the future and try to enter the ruins to see if she could find anything of use and had she never returned to Konoha she had wanted to one day return the village to its former glory.

He leaned down and touched his lips to hers softly before leaving the room since he knew she most likely would not awake until the next day.

* * *

-Naruko's pov, 4 days later upon the end of the second chuunin exam.-

Naruko studied the group around her. Anko had cut the teams number in more than half. Out of the 24 teams that had started the second exam, only 10 remained. She could see the almost extremely satisfied smirk that said woman was throwing at Ibiki who pretended like it wasn't impressive at all.

All of the council was present along with some anbu and jounin and she could see the hatred in the civilians eyes that she survived the forest. There were also some Hyuuga clan elders there with Hiashi.

The hokage was explaining why the exams were held before giving the word to Hayate who explained that since there was still too many genin they had to have preliminary exams. He offered anyone who wished to withdraw to do so and Kabuto and his team mate Yoroi Akado, both of them were still full on chakra but quit since it was a part of the plan but since Sasuke had not passed the exam it was no use to have Yoroi compete Kin Tsuchi. Hayate waited for a few moments to see if there was anyone else before signaling to Anko who spoke into a microphone and then suddenly appeared a large flat screen out of the wall and the matches were randomly drawn.

(AN: I'm too lazy to type any of the fights out, all of them go like in canon except for the last three which are in this fic hinata's and Tenten's and Naruko's. I will type out those two.. mostly.)

The matches were as followed:

Zaku Abumi vs Shino Aburame – Shino wins.

Misumi Tsurugi vs Kankuro – Kankuro wins.

Ino Yamanaka vs Shikamaru Nara – Shikamaru wins.

Gaara vs Lee- Gaara wins. (he doesn't crush Lee's leg or arm though he is still damaged by the opening of the gates.)

Dosu Kinuta vs Chouji Akimichi – Dosu wins.

* * *

Naruko vs Kiba

Naruko sighed as she heard the dog boy's rambling about how he was going to show her that he was still a top dog by beating her. She slowly made her way down and saw Tsume shaking her head at her sons idiocy. Hana stood there and was glaring lightly at her brother who noticed it and stopped his rambling and just smirked at Naruko who just looked lazy.

"You know, Kiba. I almost wish to forfeit just so that I wont have to wipe the floor with your face in front of your sister but I kind of want to compete in the finals just to see how far I can go so I do hope that you can forgive me for this Hana, but I am afraid that your brothers ego has to end today." Naruko said lazily and everyone in the room chuckled. Kiba seethed and ran at her with Akamaru at his side and Naruko just simply side stepped him and tripped him making him fall flat on his face. Hayate signaled them to begin and jumped back.

Naruko then pulled off her jacket and ramming a kunai into the wall near her, hung it up while whistling a tune. She then turned around and walked over to where Kiba was looking irritated by her lazy easy going attitude.

He changed into his beast mode along with Akamaru who changed into a clone of him before clenching his fists making his steel claws slide out. Naruko didn't even blink at her own creation being used against her and slid into her shadow fang taijutsu style while sliding her own steel claws out.

Kiba and Akamaru then both ran at her before entering the fang over fang technique. Naruko just quietly waited until they struck and then simply countered their strikes and threw them face first at the wall behind them. Both of them twisted in mid air and then used their momentum to repeat the same movement. They kept it up like that for awhile with Naruko simply toying around with him while smirking. Then she seemed to grow bored and decided to end the fight in such a big fashion that no one would dare mess with her again.

She made some hand seals with lightning speed before chains appeared out of the ground which latched onto Kiba. Then there appeared in front of everyone the grim reaper clad in his dark robes with his scythe. He walked towards Kiba who was yelling at Naruko to stop the jutsu. He knew that the jutsu would kill anyone it was used upon. She had used it against some of the teams in the forest. The grim reaper came to take peoples souls away.

Naruko just stood by inspecting her nails while everyone stared in shock at her coldness. All of her friends were shocked that she would use the jutsu on one of her own friends and were considering rethinking their opinion and friendship with her.

The moment the grim reaper's scythe hovered over Kiba's chest over his heart Naruko looked up and walked forward. Then the chains let go of the frightened genin who fainted and the reaper vanished.

Hana then appeared by Naruko looking quite pissed off.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was the grim reaper giving Kiba an exam."

"What the fuck do you mean an exam?"

"If Kiba had something in his past that required killing him for then the grim reaper would have killed him. Since he didn't it means Kiba may be an idiot but he is an idiot that is an innocent." Naruko simply said before looking to Hayate who nodded and declared her an winner, she then grabbed her jacket and kunai before heading back up to where her team was giving her an disapproving look.

* * *

Hinata vs Neji

Everyone stared in silence at the screen. They knew that while the hatred wasn't as much between Neji and Hinata after the training trip where Naruko told them about the kyuubi then there was still some anger.

They both slid into the same position but Hinata's was slightly different with her having her fingers slightly relaxed and her legs less steady since she would be using more movement than the gentle fist usually did. Naruko immediately knew the position and smiled. The two of them had discussed the possibility that Hinata would have to fight her cousin and that it would be better to have something he didn't when the time came. Naruko had trained the girl personally in private in her own apartment ever since they became friends in a new version of the style that was only a little bit different but fit the shy girl better.

The moment the match was started Neji ran forward but Hinata was prepared for it and slapped his hand away before ducking under it and sliding behind him and hitting two of his chakra points that were in his shoulder blades which made his strikes less powerful. Neji whirled around and glared spitefully due to him not knowing the style she was using and not liking how his cousin who had always been weaker than him was suddenly landing hits.

"I'm guessing that Naruko taught you this considering only she would have you stop using your own family's style for something else less proper." Neji taunted and Hinata just smiled.

"Aye, she did help me with this style. But not because of what you think. The gentle fist style does not fit my body. So while I do practice it while you are around I use this as back up when fighting someone I know is better than me in using the gentle fist. You are the prodigy of our generation, not me. I mentioned it to Naruko once during training that I might have to face you or someone else of the clan and since I was inferior to others in it we figured out a way to change the style but still use the basics. I call it the flowing dragon, deal with the fact that I no longer simply lose to you dear cousin, because this is a new me." Hinata simply said before darting around once more and hitting more of his chakra points.

This continued for some time before Neji finally grew angry enough to elbow her in the neck and then slam an overpowered chakra strike at her chest. He kept up hitting the girl while she was still stunned but before he could finish her off he suddenly felt himself thrown across the room.

He landed on his feet and saw Naruko giving him a death glare from where she was holding an unconscious Hinata who had blood seeping from her mouth which indicated some heavy internal damage. Hayate had called the match the moment the girl had fallen unconscious but hadn't been able to stop him. The medics were called at that moment and they rushed out and took the Hyuuga clan heir from the arena on a stretcher.

Naruko just kept on glaring at the boy who was starting to grow quite uncomfortable by it since he knew that she could kill him as easy as breathing. Naruko then bent down to a puddle of Hinata's blood and after covering her hand in her blood, clenched her fist causing her steel claws to slide out.

"I swear upon my parent's grave that I will avenge this Neji Hyuuga. Be it in this exam or the moment you are in my way. And when you do, you will regret the very day you were born." Naruko said coldly making the Hyuuga prodigy shiver in slight fear. She then turned her back to him and walked back to her team.

* * *

Next up were Tenten and Temari. From the beginning Temari just used her fan to blow away the other girls weapons like they were flies. She then used an powerful wind release to cut up the girl badly and rendering her unconscious. When the bun-haired girl was falling to the ground Temari intended to catch her with her fan but looked up to see Naruko holding the girl while standing on her fan.

"You know, what you were planning on doing was not an honorable move at all Temari. Especially after Hayate called the match in your favor. I would suggest that you didn't try anything like this again." Naruko said simply before giving the unconscious girl to the medics who carried her off.

"Whatever." Temari simply said as they were joined by the rest of the genin on the arena floor so they could draw numbers for the last exam.

They said their number out loud as they drew it:

Neji: 2

Temari: 4

Shikamaru: 3

Shino: 5

Gaara: 7

Dosu: 8

Naruko: 1

Kankuro: 6

"First fight will be Naruko vs Neji, second fight will be Shikamaru vs Temari, third will be Shino vs Kankuro, fourth and final will be Gaara vs Dosu. You have one month to prepare. Be ready to show your best!" Hiruzen said before dismissing them.

* * *

-x-x-x-x-

Officially the longest chapter...

hope you like.


	10. Chapter 10: of toads, foxes and death

Chapter 10: of toads, foxes and death

Naruko stood in a clearing with Jiraya who was teaching her to summon toads. She had already signed the contract and was currently staying in a clearing where she could summon the boss without killing anyone. She and the kyuubi had come to the agreement that if she took his own summoning contract, which was the fox clan, then he would lend her his power in the fight with Orochimaru and with summoning the bosses for each clan to get them to agree.

She had already summoned the fox boss, Sendo , who had agreed to an alliance through the golden haired girl. Naruko finally slammed her hand onto the ground calling out the summoning technique. The boss appeared in a giant cloud of smoke.

Sendo just simply waited until Gamabunta looked down to see the blond and then up at himself. Jiraya stood by and was sweating since he had not expected to be surrounded by two giants in the same day. Gamabunta demanded to know why he was summoned there and Jiraya explained what was going on making him hum in thought.

The two clans then started discussing the allegiance while Jiraya started teaching his blond student more defensive jutsu's along with brushing up on her taijutsu and kenjutsu. The bow would be useless against Orochimaru so it was no use brushing up on that. The two summons eventually finished their talks and the fox clan gave Naruko their summoning tattoo on her right arm and the toads gave her permission to summon them any time she wished with the jutsu.

Sendo then introduced her to a new born fox kit who would become her partner much like Kiba and Akamaru were partners. He would be a summon until they bonded and then he would be able to stay and leave as he pleased between the two worlds even if he was injured.

She named him Kage, since he was pure black in color. Sendo then took the kit with him and both summons left as Zabuza and Haku joined them to help her with her training.

They kept on training after that.

* * *

-1 month later, the day of the finals-

Naruko walked towards the stadium along with Zabuza and Haku. Jiraya had headed to the hokage tower the day before and just told them to be ready when the invasion began with Gaara's match. Naruko had changed slightly in the last month. Her bonding with kage had changed her looks since she had the kyuubi in her and she became more feral looking and her hair was wilder than ever. Some of her teeth had become fangs so she looked more feline than ever before. This caused even more stares along the way to the stadium.

Kabuto had tried to kill Hayate when he overheard Orochimaru and him plotting the invasion with Baki but Hayate started the seal upon his mind making the other man freeze and Hayate then killed him and disposed of his body before going into hiding.

They were not far from the stadium when they noticed obvious trembling in the ground and saw an herd of angry bulls heading their way.

"RUN!" Naruko said making the two with her start running for their life along with Naruko. They arrived just as the chuunin guarding the doors to the stadium were closing it but she called for them to wait. They were obviously going to refuse but then saw the bulls after them and kept the door open until they slid under it and then followed after them and closed the door. Naruko ran into the stadium and slid to a stop beside Shikamaru who sweat-dropped.

Naruko then noticed a few of the bulls having gotten in and started running in circles with them on her heels. Yelling for someone to get those crazy motherfuckers off her tail. Eventually the bulls were stopped by Gaara's sand and some jounin came into the stadiums floor and took the Bulls back to their place outside the Stadium. Naruko stood by Shikamaru again after recovering from the running and the exams started. Zabuza appeared beside Jiraya in the kage's box where Hiruzen sat with Orochimaru disguised as the kazekage beside him.

* * *

-Up in the stands-

Hiashi Hyuuga took a seat with Hanabi at his side and saw his older daughter being led into a seat by Kiba. She was still recovering from the fight with Neji and even while he did not tolerate a weak heir in front of his clan then he did appreciate that she had gone her own way of becoming stronger. She would lead the clan into a new golden age. He knew that the only real reason the girl didn't beat her sister recently was because she did not wish to see her sister branded with the caged bird seal before she could ban the seal.

He knew that Naruko would avenge the damage made to his daughter today and was secretly glad that his daughter had such a good example to follow. Naruko was feared across the lands as the shadow fang, maybe she could make his heir much stronger and make her as good of a leader as Hiashi had heard and seen the golden haired girl be. He was still miffed about the underwear prank but it was only to be expected of Kushina's daughter to prank the most proper clan in the village.

He heard civilians muttering about how the demon should not be allowed in the exams and if anything should have been killed years ago. He shook his head at their idiocy. After the exams Naruko's lineage would be revealed to protect her from any execution that the civilian side of the council wished upon her for even the smallest cut on the hokage.

After that she would start being trained for her place as the Uzumaki clans clan head by Hiashi himself. He knew that it would be an headache to teach the girl since Itachi said that while the blond was intelligent and a fast learner then she had the attention span of a sparrow and would vanish regularly when she grew bored. The best way to get her attention would be by promising her something she desired in return for her time. And since she was already being taught jutsu by Jiraya then Hiashi could not offer her that.

Hiashi saw his older daughter about to take a seat further away from them but decided to move a few civilians with his famous evil stare and cleared the two seats beside him and then had Kiba and her sit by them. Hanabi looked confused at this but didn't object since she was the obedient one.

They stared down at the genin in silence for a moment before Hinata finally spoke up.

"Do you think Naruko will kill him?"

"No. But she will beat him within an inch of his life. She was furious when he hurt you more than he had to. He broke the code that she placed when team 9 started hanging around which involved no unnecessary hurting of one another. He could have killed you, so she will nearly kill him, but I don't think she has the heart to kill him yet." Kiba explained and Hinata nodded in agreement.

Tenten who was sitting in the seat row that was beside their own listened to their conversation with worry. She knew that what Neji had done was wrong but he was her team-mate. And he had asked her out on a date after the preliminaries when she woke up and they had gone on two dates by then and were currently dating. She had not seen the golden haired girl all month due to her always being away to train but knew that she had sworn a rather harsh oath to make Neji regret the day he was born after the fight between and his cousin. She just hoped that she would not hurt him too bad.

She saw Uchiha Itachi appear beside her in the only empty seat in the stand and saw him watching his sister with an unreadable look in his eyes. He was wearing the now standard shinobi armor that Naruko had made like Tenten herself. Kiba was tasked with protecting Hinata since she was injured badly but was wearing the armor himself.

* * *

-The stadium floor, after the rest of the genin went to the participant box to wait for their turn-

Naruko smirked at Neji who was looking slightly more pale than he was before he saw her come into the stadium. He noticed her changes and looked kind of scared of her. She had kicked his ass many times before and had promised him a beating of a lifetime for harming his cousin. That was the reason he had decided to go ahead and ask Tenten on a date since he knew he could easily be maimed for life after the fight with the golden haired jinchuriki.

Shiranui Genma chewed on his senbon before signaling them to start and then jumped back since he knew it would turn ugly quickly. Naruko immediately jumped back before vanishing making the crowd murmur in unease. Then out of nowhere it seemed there appeared four foxes that reached a full grown persons elbow and surrounded the stunned Hyuuga boy at four different angles.

Then came a short whistle and the foxes started attacking the boy who defended himself rather well against the attack's. Naruko then appeared suddenly in front of him and kicked his stomach making him fly back before he could react. He was about to twist in mid air but a fox suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him towards another fox who kicked him towards another. Making it a sort of a ball time with Neji as the ball between the four foxes who clawed at him every time they kicked him forward. Every time Neji would try to get out of the way by using chakra to stick to something Naruko would appear to have the game continue.

Eventually though she told the summons to go back to their world but by that time the boy was all scratched up all over his body. Naruko then just stood there lazily waiting for the boy to attack her. He eventually did since he refused to give up even when he was hurt and ran towards her and started throwing slow and bad fists of chakra at her. She moved her body dodging every single one of them showing her obvious superiority over him and humiliating the prodigy.

She then simply yawned and kicked him with an chakra enhanced kick into the wall opposite her, he made a nice Neji shaped crack into the wall. She then ran forward and started beating him up with all her power, using chakra into every punch causing him extreme damage. By the time she was done with the boy he was stuck to the wall beneath the kage box by kunai in his clothes in a crucified way. The boy was unconscious and badly hurt so it was obvious to everyone that he was beaten and unable to continue so Genma just got him down before handing him to the medics who rushed out. And then declared Naruko the winner.

Everyone in the crowd was stunned into silence by the pure cruelty and blood thirst shown by the golden haired girl who was covered in some of the boys blood. Naruko calmly walked into the stadiums bathroom where she washed the blood off her skin. She was soon joined by Itachi and Tenten. Tenten had gone to see the boy but was told by medics that he needed extreme care since the golden haired girl had broken several of his bones and his cuts were rather bad. This caused the bun-haired girl to be furious with the blond while Itachi did not understand the blood thirst that his adopted sister showed.

"What the fuck were you thinking Naruko?! You nearly, if not have, killed him. He is in in extreme care. You could also easily be done ruining his career as a shinobi. Some of his bones are badly damaged." Tenten said getting into the other girls face.

"I only did the same thing to him as he did to Hinata."

"Hinata's career isn't over because of what he did."

"Actually it just might be. He damaged her lungs too badly. Unless Tsunade of the sannin comes back and heals her then she can never work any job that involves hard work for the rest of her life. If she does then she will die. I gave Neji the same on and off chance, if Tsunade gets back, he can stay a shinobi. If she doesn't he will quit being a ninja just like her."

"Naruko. You of all people should not be taking vengeance upon anyone for anything. You said once that you believed that one day people might understand each other and stop fighting and a new golden age would begin, but you are showing the same hatred, same foolishness as everyone else. If you cannot forgive, then how can you expect others to do it?. And also this fight may have given the civilians the bargaining chip in ending your life." Itachi said making the girl chuckle.

"They intend on killing me no matter what I do Itachi. It does not matter what I do, they will never stop seeking my death until the day I am six feet under. Until the day you can say otherwise and prove it. Stop throwing that in my face." Naruko said walking out of the bathroom and into the participant's box to wait for the invasion to begin.

The matches came and went until eventually it was time for Gaara and Dosu to fight. That was when the explosion happened up in the kage's box and Naruko immediately shunshined to where Orochimaru was standing holding a kunai to the hokage's neck. Zabuza and Jiraya were standing there waiting for him to strike as a barrier was raised around them by the sound four who looked worried at the difference in number and at the armor Zabuza was wearing. Gaara had already killed Dosu and gone into hiding so Orochimaru looked kind of worried but didn't let it bother him too much.

Hiruzen pushed himself away from his former student before he could react more and pulled off his hokage robes to reveal his own piece of armor.

"It would seem you somehow found out your plan and prepared yourselves for this attack. But it is no use, we outnumber you outside this barrier ten to one." Orochimaru smirked.

"Are you so sure of that?" Baki said as he appeared out of one of Haku's ice mirrors.

"We found the kazekage's body. And as we speak the full force of Suna is destroying your shinobi. And Naruko you are needed elsewhere. The Uchiha escaped and is heading towards Gaara's hiding place to kill him. Normally I would not be worried but the cursed seal is activated. He killed his guards who were two chuunin of this village."

* * *

Naruko didn't even think about what she was doing as Haku grabbed her and pulled her through the mirror and put her down by Gaara's hiding place which was deep in the forest in a hidden small house. The siblings were all there as she appeared and frowned when she appeared.

"Why aren't you with the hokage? Wont this give them cause to kill you?" Temari asked but before Naruko could answer Sasuke appeared and started attacking her.

"I have my answer." Temari said as she prepared her fan and Kankuro got out his puppet while Gaara started to pour his sand out of the gourd.

Soon all four of them were fighting the Uchiha who had obviously gone insane. Eventually Naruko had the boy pinned down and then noticed too late when he stabbed her in the stomach with a tanto. With a roar of fury she stabbed him through the heart with her claws ending his life immediately and then stumbled back from the body in shock and fell over her own two feet so she was sitting on the ground.

She stared at the wound on her stomach since it was not healing, she was breathing heavily and was losing a lot of blood by the second. She looked up as she was joined by a few other shinobi in the clearing. Itachi was at the front of the crowd which signaled that the invasion was over. He was staring at his little brothers body with an unreadable expression on his face until he looked at her, then his face softened since he could see her fear and then frowned when he saw she was bleeding badly.

Gaara helped her up from her place on the ground and the moment she was up off the ground and Itachi took a step towards her she took one back.

"Naruko.." Itachi said making the blond flinch as she held a hand over her own wound which still hadn't healed.

"Everyone is waiting, we will discuss this later. Sasuke would have been killed either way. He killed two of our own and injured you. You need a doctor." Itachi said and Naruko just nodded slowly before looking at Gaara who nodded in understanding and supported her by slinging her arm across his shoulders and taking most of her weight onto his own legs.

Temari then took some bandages out and bandaged the wound tightly so she would not bleed out on the way and then they walked back.

Itachi created clones to carry his brothers body back to the village.

* * *

-x-x-x-

Sooo... I'm thinking Naruko leaves the village after this. What do you guys think I will do? Let her live and leave, or die, or live and live in konoha?

Tell me your thoughts. yes yes, i killed sasuke.


	11. Chapter 11: a kiss and the legendary

Chapter 11: A kiss and the legendary sucker

Naruko had to get stitches for the first time in her life since the cut wasn't healing like normally. The uchiha had thankfully not cut any organs despite how dangerously close he was to it. They could see the few civilians that had returned from the shelters were giving Naruko some angry and hateful looks and the group tightened around the golden haired girl.

The genin that knew that Naruko had killed the younger Uchiha, understood that the Uchiha had not been saveable due to insanity and the cursed seal. The boy had killed two chuunin of the village and would have been executed for his crimes either way but knew that Naruko had broken her deal with the civilian council by leaving the hokage's side. Orochimaru had not managed to harm anyone to any extent in the short fight since he had fallen back the moment the forces from Oto were broken and scattered and then hunted down by the joint forces of suna and konoha. He knew that if he stayed he would not get out alive so he left with his life and limbs intact.

All in all the day was a dark one.

They arrived at the hokage tower and walked into the hokages office where Hiruzen was waiting for them. There was a council meeting that all of them were to be present in. Itachi and Gaara explained what had happened in the forest and Hiruzen nodded in understanding. They then headed into the council chambers where everyone was waiting. Naruko was made to stand where criminals usually stood.

"Uzumaki Naruko. You have been charged by the civilian council of treason and for abandoning your post as my guardian in the middle of an invasion and for the murder of Uchiha Sasuke. How do you plead?" Hiruzen said out of formality.

"Guilty on all accounts except for treason." Naruko said in an emotionless voice.

"See? The demon doesn't even deny the murder! She should be killed where she stands!" Saki Haruno yelled making the civilian side nod in agreement.

"Aye. Normally that would be the case. But Uchiha Sasuke killed two of our own chuunin today that were set to guard him and then stabbed Naruko and tried to kill one of our allies. Naruko's hand was forced in killing him for he was a traitor and died a traitors death." Itachi said from his new place on the Clan council side.

"He was being controlled by Orochimaru. Everyone knows the cursed seal corrupts people." Danzo said and the civilians nodded.

"It does not corrupt ones that do not wish to be corrupted. Sasuke felt the power that could be his and fell into forbidden temptation. He was unhinged from the beginning. His death shall not be discussed further. Naruko is innocent of the murder since it was duty. The same thing can be said for her leaving the hokages side. She was ordered by him to go stop Sasuke. She is his protector until he tells her to go. Which he did and we have witnesses saying so including the hokage himself. And besides, killing someone of Naruko's standard would be a mistake and a shadow upon all of our names. And we also would only be dishonoring the fourth's memory and making his sacrifice worthless, since everyone knows that the moment a jinchuriki dies, the demon becomes free. It does not die with the human that holds it." Itachi said and the civilian council was stunned since they did not know how to argue against that.

"May I propose a banishment then?" Danzo asked and the civilians smirked.

"On what charges? Living? And besides why would you want to banish the only child of your hero, the yondaime hokage?" Hiruzen said finally speaking in Naruko's defense.

"What do you mean? The yondaime had no children. The child that Kushina carried under her belt died in the attack." Koharu spoke up from the right side of Hiruzen.

"Here is Naruko's birth certificate and you can see it for yourselves that she is the only heir to the Uzumaki clan and Namikaze name. The only reason I have kept this to myself all these years was to protect Naruko from Iwa. Minato made the ultimate sacrifice that night, by making his own daughter a jinchuriki like her mother was before her. You know as well as I do that Minato would never have asked any other parent to do the thing he could not, so he damned his own child to the fate of all jinchuriki. And you have spat on his wishes all her life, he wanted her to be hailed as a hero and you ignored him and nearly killed the girl more than once in your anger." Hiruzen said handing the files to her advisers who then handed it on to the civilian council.

Everyone stared at Naruko, not believing they did not see the resemblance before. The golden haired color was rare in the elemental nations. So it was a wonder that they would not see it before. Naruko just kept her face cold and emotionless while everyone studied her.

"I will be the first to apologize to you Namikaze-sama. For the behavior of every single merchant in this village and I hope that you can one day find it in you to forgive us, but if I were you I would not." A chubby looking man, named Taisuke, said standing up and bowing his head low in front of Naruko who just blinked. Taisuke was the head of the merchant guild in konoha and the one who had told all shops to overcharge her.

Hiruzen then called the council meeting finished and cleared Naruko of all charges. Said girl just walked out without a backwards glance and went to her apartment. She noticed that the wound on her stomach had mostly closed and got rid of the stitches. The wound would leave a scar but she had plenty of those already. She changed her clothes into her normal black sports bra and headed into the forge to get lost in her thoughts over the steady clang of hammer meeting metal.

The next day everyone knew that Naruko was the yondaimes daughter and that she had made all the seals and armor that kept the village safe from harm during the invasion. All of the people who had been hating Naruko the day before was now thanking the gods for her mere existence, and Naruko hated it.

She knew that if she was not her fathers daughter everyone would still keep hating her. She hated the way everyone was suddenly respecting her and treating her like she was a goddess. It annoyed her how everyone thought that years of abuse would just vanish because of her name.

She sighed as she headed towards the hokage tower to see the old man since he had summoned her for some reason. She decided to use shunshin since she didn't want to be on the streets more than she had to. When she appeared in the hokage's office she saw all of the konoha 12 there along with their senseis, the team from suna that was leaving later that day and Jiraya of the sannin There were four chuunin vests on a table in front of the hokage and Naruko knew that some of them were about to get a promotion.

"Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Aburame Shino and Namikaze Uzumaki Naruko step forward." Hiruzen said as he stood up.

"For your undying loyalty to the village, and for your great show of leadership ability and due to how well you did in the chuunin exams I hereby promote all four of you to the rank of Chuunin. Congratulations and keep making the village proud." Hiruzen as he handed each of them a vest.

"All except for Jiraya and Naruko may leave now. This is all I summoned you here for." Hiruzen said and everyone bowed and left except for Gaara who told Naruko that he wished to see her before he left for Suna and would be waiting at the south gate.

Neji was giving Naruko a death glare the whole time they were there and it was obvious he hated the fact that she was promoted while he stayed genin and might have to stop being a shinobi. Tenten ignored her since she was still angry. Naruko ignored both of them and just stared forward at the vest in her hands.

"Naruko. I have a special task for you and Jiraya. The fight with Orochimaru made me realize that I'm too old for this job. I want you to fetch Tsunade and bring her back. She will be able to heal both of the Hyuuga's and bring back some stability into the genin teams and take over my job. You will leave once you are ready Naruko. But I would appreciate it if you brought Tsunade here sooner than later." Hiruzen said and Naruko nodded before pulling the chunin vest on over her sports bra and then nodded to Jiraya before using shunshin to go back to her apartment to get her weapons.

She pulled her bracers on but kept the trigger out of the inside of her fist since she would be saying goodbye to Gaara before leaving. She also grabbed her bow and then headed out towards the southern gate.

Gaara was waiting there with his siblings and the konoha 12 who were sitting in a restaurant that was pretty open and you could see whatever was happening at the gate, celebrating the four of them getting to the rank of chuunin without Naruko. Jiraya also stood there waiting and gave Naruko the sign that she did not have to hurry at all.

"Don't be a stranger again angel." Gaara said and grabbed Naruko's hand with his own in a tight handshake.

"I told you not to call me that. I'm no angel, if anything I'm a demon. I only did what anyone would have done in my steps when I had your seal fixed. I will keep in contact, I promise. With the fox summoning contract I can get a faster mail service too." Naruko said simply and Gaara smiled before doing something no one would ever expect him to do and pulled Naruko in before kissing her.

Jiraya stood there gaping along with Gaara's siblings and the rest of the konoha 12 who had seen and heard the whole conversation. Naruko's eyes just widened before she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss slightly and put her arms around the boys neck even when he was shorter than her. Eventually they pulled apart as Jiraya cleared his throat and looked ready to give Gaara the you-will-die-if-you-hurt-her-speech when Naruko gave him a look before looking at Gaara who was smirking.

"I'm guessing that this means you return my feelings?" Gaara said more than asked and Naruko nodded slowly.

"Aye." Naruko said and then Jiraya dragged her off by her shoulder. Naruko just threw a wave at her friend- boyfriend?- and then allowed her godfather to drag her off.

* * *

-With Gaara and his siblings-

"Gaara has a girlfriend, Gaara has a girlfriend." Temari sung lightly dancing in circles around her baby brother who looked annoyed but didn't deny it. Him and Naruko were dating, and he would enjoy every second of it until they had to part.

(An: I'm not gonna write the bringing Tsunade arc since Orochimaru wont go to her and she will return to the village since Naruko is her goddaughter and needs her to be around. Akatsuki also didn't make any appearance yet since I haven't decided who to replace Itachi with o.o'')

* * *

-1 month after Tsunade is made hokage and heals both Hinata and Neji-

Naruko sighed as she laid in her bed thinking about the past month. The genin teams had been kept busy and Naruko, Shino, Chouji and Shikamaru had been sent on c-ranked missions with some of the jounin of the village more than once to gain experience in the field. Tsunade was a slave driver and Naruko had even gone to the point of calling her troublesome like Shikamaru.

Naruko had been given her full inheritance which involved the Namikaze- Uzumaki clan manor. She had moved in along with Itachi, Zabuza and Haku. The manor had a full team of servants at their disposal and a gardener who had kept the grounds beautiful even when the owner of the manor was apparently dead.

There was a large training ground that they used often to spar or train along with 6 bedrooms in the whole house, 8 bathrooms, one for each bedroom and 2 for guests, ballroom, kitchen, large dining room and a large library filled with books from Uzushiogakure and Minato's personal collection along with her mothers.

Naruko had taken the bedroom which had been meant for her from birth. It was as large as the master bedroom which was across the hall from hers. She had forbidden anyone from claiming it as their own since all of her parent's stuff was still in there just the way they had left it when the attack happened. She had a large forge and a work space built on the property not far from the main house. The servants and their families all had their own houses on the property which was big.

Naruko and Gaara kept in contact through letters. He told her that he had been promoted to chuunin for his good work in restoring konoha's faith in Suna. Naruko had one of the fastest of the fox clan deliver the letters which he did gladly since he felt useful when he did.

Many things had happened in just a month. And Naruko was nearly overwhelmed and Hiashi had started grooming her into becoming clan head in the future. She now sat on all council meetings like all clan heads but she would have to marry to become the head of her clan in all legal ways and she was too young and refused to marry just anyone.

Team 9 had stopped hanging around for the most part the last month since Neji was still sore about his punishment even when Tenten had finally realized that the genious was just self centered and foolish but did not know how to apologize to the golden haired jinchuriki so she stayed away. Things were polite during missions but no real conversations were held which made the air forced.

* * *

All in all peace reigned in Konoha for once but today was her birthday. And the kyuubi festival.

While Naruko did not have to worry about attacks anymore, she did not like the festival since it connected to many bad memories. And her and Itachi had never really celebrated her birthday on the road so it was just another day to live for Naruko.

She sighed and stood up deciding to not think about it. No one probably even knew about her birthday. She took a long bath since today was her day off and she had the whole day to herself. She then went down to get breakfast and saw that she was alone at home which was rare. But considering how busy everyone usually was lately then it wasn't surprising. She just ate her breakfast before heading out and decided to walk around the village.

Everyone was preparing for the festival. All types of booths were being set up and children were running around playing tag. People nodded to her in greeting or smiled at her which was something she was still getting used to. She just walked around wherever her feet took her and eventually ended up on the hokage monument, precisely her fathers head.

She looked down at the painting that she had done about a year ago and smiled. It was still in good condition. She then walked down the mountain and into the graveyard and found her parent's graves before sitting down in front of them and started talking to them in a low voice and told them about her life and just spoke about anything that came to mind. Different prank ideas and her friends. Also about her confusing feelings towards Gaara.

When she was done she laid down on the grass and closed her eyes imagining her parents. She had seen images of them in the house. Including one where her mother was pregnant with her. She imagined their voices, and wondered if they would approve of her choices in life. Eventually she fell asleep with the wind gently caressing her face like a mothers caress for her child.

* * *

-x-x-x-

I know I know, I got a little...well I don't really know what to call it at the end there. And yes, I decided to have Naruko stay. But before you leave this page then I intend on making another Naruko story where Naruko leaves konoha and rebuilds Uzu. It will be different from this one. I decided not to do it in this story since it clashes with the idea I had at the beginning of this story.

I want to finish this one before I do anything though so be patient. If you follow me on here you will be the first ones to know when I do post it.

I hope you continue to like this story.


	12. Chapter 12: playing with fire

Chapter 12: Playing with fire

When Naruko did not return at all during the night of her birthday Itachi requested help finding the blond from Tsunade who sent out all of the konoha 12 to find her. They were each assigned a part of the village but as they searched they could not find the golden haired girl anywhere. Tsunade and Jiraya eventually joined in the search and they searched everywhere.

Eventually Jiraya had an idea and headed towards the village graveyard. The group followed him until he came across the grave of Naruko's parents. The girl was sleeping peacefully in front of the grave and for once looked her age.

"I thought she might be here on the day that she feels most alone. It makes sense that she would seek her parents out when no one else seems to notice her even when the kyuubi festival is her birthday, no one has ever celebrated her birth except for them even as they died that day. And no one, not even we her godparents even wished her happy birthday yesterday. I feel ashamed of myself." Jiraya said and Tsunade laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Lets just get her home. There is nothing that we can do to change the past." Tsunade said and then picked the blond up carefully and then dismissed the genin teams before carrying the golden haired girl home.

* * *

-the next morning, Naruko's pov-

When Naruko woke up in her bed she felt confused. She did not remember going back home after visiting her parent's grave. That was when she noticed her godfather sitting in her window looking at the sitting sun.

"Ah your eyes finally open. Tsunade will be pleased. We were all worried about you when you slept so long and when you didn't come home at all after the kyuubi festival. I was the one that found you sleeping by your parents grave. Me and Tsunade have been discussing your future again with the old man. He wants me and her to get married and restart the Senju clan. We are going to do it but first I want to take you on a 2 year training trip outside the village. We leave in two days. Be ready." Jiraya said looking at the girl who nodded slowly.

Naruko then got out of bed since she was starving and as she was walking out the door Jiraya spoke again. "And Naruko...Happy late birthday. Your friends brought some gifts for you, they are on your desk along with a letter and a package from Gaara."

Naruko looked around and saw a pile of gifts on her desk and smiled. It would seem she wasn't completely forgotten. She then opened the gifts after eating. She got cool sunglasses which hid the eyes completely and if you looked at them you would only seen your own reflection, not the wearers eyes from Shino. Some tips on ninken training from Kiba. A book on herbs from Hinata and Haku. From Gaara she got a necklace with a gold fox pendant with nine tails. All of her other gifts were cool but there was one that caught her eye the most. It was from Tenten. It was a cloak much like her own father used to wear. Naruko laid it to the side before going to sleep. Not knowing whether or not to forgive the bun haired girl.

The next day Naruko was summoned to the hokages office on a important mission. Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to kidnap one of Suna's academy students to anger Gaara who was placed in charge of training said student. Tsunade placed Shikamaru in charge of the mission with Naruko as his second and Shino as the third in command. They placed themselves in squads with Naruko alone on one squad and would go help Gaara, Hinata, Tenten and Kiba would go help Kankuro, Shino having Neji, Lee and Sai would go after the straggler which none of the siblings followed and Shikamaru having Ino, Chouji and Sakura would go help Temari.

The genin and chuunin quickly headed into river country where they would cut the unknown shinobi off and take them out.

Naruko immediately began running faster than the others since all of them knew where they would try to cut the enemy off and the other shinobi allowed her to go. Knowing that she was strong enough to hold them steady for some time if she ran across them first.

By the time that all of them got to their places though it was too late. The sand siblings were scattered and Gaara was locked in a steel dome where Shukakus chakra was being absorbed from and Naruko was fighting a guy in white robes who called himself Semei. She had cuts all over her body but was otherwise unharmed when the rest of the konoha 12 arrived with Temari and Kankuro.

The golden haired girl looked furious at the way that Semei just saw Gaara as a tool to gain the destruction of the 5 great villages and intended on killing him for his demons chakra. Eventually Naruko got thrown back by the metal dome which Gaara threw at them. She saw him half transformed into the shukaku. Naruko walked towards him not showing any fear much to Semeis surprise.

"Gaara. Suppress the shukaku, you don't need his power and you know it. You can do it. We can finish him off together, without the demons." Naruko said making the red head look at her before he started to focus on suppressing his demon.

Eventually the shukaku's form fell into normal sand and Naruko gave the red head some soldier pills to replenish his lost chakra and then he started breaking the mountain around him to create sand. Meanwhile Naruko made a rasengan and kept up a relentless attack on Semei who was forced to dodge and absorb the chakra from the rasengan. Then she saw Gaara charge up shukakus pike and got out of the way as he threw it into the chakra absorbing armor, and then Gaara used his sand burial technique to finally finish him.

Naruko ran to Gaara who collapsed as he was exhausted and Naruko just smiled once she knew he would be fine. She personally carried him back to Konoha on her back despite her own injuries and even when the others offered to carry him for her she refused. They were both placed in the hospital upon return and Tsunade scolded Naruko for her stubbornness. Eventually Jiraya visited her in the hospital and they started discussing the training.

Gaara overheard the whole thing since he was in the same room and offered them to come train in suna where Naruko could learn more about wind jutsu which they agreed to. They would leave with the sand siblings and Matsuri the next day but for now they had to rest.

* * *

-The next day-

Naruko sighed as she finished packing all of the stuff she would need on the training trip and stared around the room. She saw the cloak on the same place as she had placed it two days earlier. For a moment it looked like she was considering to take it but changed her mind and slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out the door closing it behind her.

She then walked into her parent's old bedroom and fetched some of their jutsu scrolls and notes on jutsu that they had not finished and she also located her fathers notes on the hirashin.

She was wearing her armor and steel claw bracers along with black combat boots. She had the necklace that Gaara gave her around her neck and the sunglasses Shino gave her to protect her eyes from the sun which was strong these days as she left towards the southern gate where the sand team was waiting for her along with Jiraya and Tsunade. Tsunade gave her a scroll with medical jutsu and chakra control exercises as a gift before also giving her the necklace her grandfather had given her and then ruffled her hair before heading back to work and they set out on the training trip.

Unknown to them the konoha 12 stared after the golden haired girl, each vowing to become stronger so that they could stare her in the eye when she came back without shame.

* * *

-x-x-x-

I know this chapter is extreeeemely short but. I don't want her to leave on the training trip and return in the same chapter. And I know the ultimate weapon arc is rushed but I'm lazy and don't feel like writing that fight since my memory isn't 100% with the facts correct. I do hope you forgive this since I'm posting two chapters in a day. x.x

I promise the next one will be longer than this one and the one before this one. It should be up sometime tomorrow if I get into a better writing mood. I injured myself badly on my knee and arm at work yesterday and even if the pain has lessened it still hurts a bit to be using the arm at all.


	13. Chapter 13: golden return

Chapter 13: Golden return

-2 and half years from the ending of last chapter-

Two figures could be seen walking towards Konoha from the northern gate. There was a black fox walking beside one of them that reached their elbow. The older of the two figures had white spiky long hair and a headband with the kanji for oil on it.

The second figure was wearing a black cloak which covered her from head to toe. Only the shoes could be seen when she took a step, the person was wearing black combat boots. No one knew who this person was but since he or she was with Jiraya of the sannin it was obviously an ally. They let them through after Jiraya handed them a slip of paper which held his ID and they didn't bother to ask for the other persons since they had no idea who it was at all but trusted Jiraya.

The two shinobi kept on walking towards the hokage tower and passed by Sakura and Tenten who were being sent to the northern gate to gather some files for Tsunade. The two looked at the cloaked person in suspicion but didn't say anything only nodding in greeting before continuing on their way. Jiraya and the cloaked person walked into the hokage's office and received a smile and then a confused look. The fox simply laid down in the corner looking bored.

"Who do you bring before me Jiraya?" Tsunade asked looking at her old team-mate and current fiancé and then a chuckle could be heard from the cloaked person who reached up revealing bracers with black tribal fox designs and three weird slots on the back of the persons hand connected to the bracers. The person pulled their hood off revealing Naruko's smiling face.

"It is such a shame that my own godmother would not recognize me with a cloak on Ero-sennin."

Tsunade gasped and ran forward and gave the blond a bone crushing hug before holding her at an arms length and studying her. The girl had grown up a bit in the two and half a year she had been gone. She was now standing at 179 cm making her just about as tall as her father had been. Her hair reached her shoulders and was slightly spiky like it had been before. The most noteable feature of hers though was the three scars which she now had on her face. One ran right through the left corner of her lips while the other two began right under her left eye and ran down her face until it reached the bottom of her jaw.

They heard a knock on the door and Tsunade quickly pulled the hood back over the younger woman's head again and told her to stand in the corner by the window. Tsunade then sat behind her desk and told whomever was at the door to enter. Tenten, Shikamaru, Temari and Sakura entered. Sakura placed the papers that she had collected on Tsunades desk.

"I see the hooded person is in here. Everyone is wondering who it is considering that he or she arrived with Jiraya." Sakura said and Tsunade smiled.

"She, the person is she. Naruko. Take off your hood and greet your old team-mate and friends." Tsunade said turning to Naruko who did just that and did even better by taking off the cloak completely.

She was wearing a black jounin vest making them wonder what she had been doing while away since all of them were chuunin while only Neji had taken the jounin exam the time it had been held in konoha earlier that year.

"Long time no see. Shika." Naruko said making the chuunin smirk and nod in agreement.

"Aye. Same. What you been up to you troublesome woman? I haven't heard any rumors about you since you left Suna to continue training." Shikamaru said breaking the ice.

"Oh you know. Training, taking the jounin exam, kicking butt there and all over the elemental nations. Met a few interesting people. Nothing much." Naruko said lazily before a yip was heard from the corner and Naruko quickly added "got my fox companion, Kage finally." and Shikamaru just shook his head in wonder looking at the fox.

"Welcome back Namikaze-san." Sakura said bowing her head lightly since she and the golden haired girl had never been close.

"Namikaze-san makes me feel older than I am so please Sakura call me Naruko. We may not be close but now that I see you have given up your fangirlish ways maybe we can be friends." Naruko said making the girl nod and smile.

"You know Naruko you are a Namikaze, it is only right that people call you that especially now that you are nearing 16 years of age. You will have to find a man to marry soon." Shizune said from her place in the corner of the office making Jiraya clear his throat and look away while Tsunade sighed.

"Actually Shizune, I wont be finding a man to marry. But a woman." Naruko said sensing some awkwardness in the air.

"you mean you are a...?" Shizune said making Naruko nod.

"But weren't you and that Gaara boy dating?" Tenten spoke up finally making Naruko nod.

"Yes. We were. But it was only temporary. We both knew we would never be able to be together for life. And I love him as a brother, nothing more. Just like he loves me like a sister now."

"But how will you resurrect the clan?" Shizune said making Naruko smile.

"Technology has come far and I'm not the only Uzumaki out there. I have found two distant related cousins of mine. The survivors of the destruction of Uzu scattered all over. There are bound to be more. One of them is now my informant in the Akatsuki, his name is Nagato. He's Jiraya's old student too from during the war. The other is my informant inside one of Orochimaru's hideouts, Karin. Both of them knew that their family came from Uzu but never knew they were Uzumaki's. Once the time is right they will start helping me rebuild the clan though Nagato isn't in the best condition. His legs don't work and he is impaled by dozens of steel rods which you might have to help him with Tsunade. He has the rinnegan, though we don't know why or how he got it." Naruko said shocking everyone in the room except for Jiraya.

"Alrighty then. Now. Temari I assume you will be returning soon to Suna?" Tsunade asked the suna nin who nodded and then Tsunade continued "Shikamaru, you will keep showing her around and making sure she stays safe and then see her off when she leaves."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said as he waved at his old team-mate and then left with Temari.

"Naruko, rest up until tomorrow and maybe get to know the village again. And please also send a clone to the hokage monument to paint my face on there like you did before. Tomorrow I want to have your skills tested and then place you on missions. And I will change your papers to show you are a jounin too. Been waiting for you to return to do that." Tsunade said and Naruko nodded before grabbing her cloak and walking out the door followed by Tenten and Kage while Sakura remained.

* * *

"Naruko. Feel like hanging out?" Tenten asked and Naruko nodded slowly though she was unsure of the bun-haired girl's intentions. They went to her manor and entered to find Itachi and Zabuza lazing around the living room. Itachi immediately jumped up when he saw her and embraced her like a sister. Naruko returned the gesture and nodded in greeting to Zabuza who waved lazily.

Naruko then offered Tenten to join her for lunch which she agreed to and they went into the dining room and had the servants fetch them some food. Itachi, Zabuza and Haku soon joined and Naruko saw that Haku was pregnant which she smiled at.

"Naruko. I know this may not be the best time to ask this considering you just came back but how did you get those scars?" Itachi asked slowly since he did not know anything about the scars since Naruko had not really kept in touch that much to avoid alerting Iwa or akatsuki to her weaknesses.

"I got them in a fight. Like all scars." Naruko said as she finished eating.

"Who were you fighting?" Haku asked when it was obvious the golden haired girl was not going to say anything more.

"Myself." Naruko replied and stood up before motioning for Tenten to follow her and led her upstairs to her own room and walked out onto the balcony that was connected to her room and took a deep breath while Kage who had followed his friend pushed his head under her hand before leaping into her bed.

"I realize that this topic is bad since you left the room when they asked but how can you fight yourself?"

"The jinchuriki in Kumo and Iwa have mastered their demons and work with them. I asked them to teach me how since we would all have to stand together against akatsuki instead of being scattered. They agreed but I had to go to this special place that all jinchuriki go to when trying to tame their demons. There were two tests you had to pass before you could even think about anything else. One was getting rid of your own darkness." Naruko said before taking a deep breath and continuing.

"When you get rid of your own darkness it shows you who you could be as a jincuriki. It shows you how twisted and hateful you can be and insane. I didn't know how to deal with it since the jinchuriki aren't allowed to tell you how to defeat it. Just that you have to. I fought it numerous times each time getting to know my own brute strength. I used my weaknesses but nothing worked. It once slashed me in the face and the wound did not heal so I had to have it stitched and it became a scar. Eventually though I figured out that I had to just embrace myself, and tell myself that I got everything under control and that everything would be alright. That's how I fought myself." Naruko finished and Tenten looked awed while Itachi just smiled from where he had been eavesdropping before telling Haku and Zabuza about it.

"So you are into lady-bits?" Tenten said changing the conversation and Naruko chuckled.

"Aye. I am. I'm the inspiration to Jiraya's newest best selling Icha icha. Which irritates me but it isn't like I can do much about it."

They continued speaking about just about anything well into the day until Tenten was summoned to the hokage's office for a mission. Naruko went and put all of her new stuff away, placing her old clothes that she could not use to be given to charity and filled her dresser with her new clothes. She then took a shower and then just laid in her bed thinking about how life was going to be getting more complicated now that she was back while petting kage. Eventually she went downstairs to eat dinner before feeding kage and then she headed back into her room and fell asleep.

* * *

-the next day-

Naruko woke up with a servant calling her down for breakfast and she quickly got dressed before heading downstairs. She saw Tsunade and Jiraya along with the others sitting at the table waiting for breakfast and was surprised but said nothing. She just sat in her normal seat at the end of the table where the lord or lady of the house always sits.

The servants then carried in all types of food on trolley's and served each of them what they wanted and then gave them more if the desired. After everyone was done eating the servants cleared the table meanwhile the shinobi in the room besides Haku left to Tsunades office to speak about the test.

"I wish to place you in fights against a few other jounin of the village. Jiraya says you are already on anbu level or higher but I need to see it myself before I can write it like that and send you on missions." Tsunade said and Naruko nodded.

"Alright. Who are you going to pit against me?"

"Well I was thinking Asuma, Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai. You will have Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji with you on this test. Just because you are jonin level doesn't mean you will have to say goodbye to your team-mates. Anything will be permitted in this fight except for killing and bad maiming that my medical jutsu can't fix. Other than that you can do whatever you wish. The test will be held at training ground 7 in an hour. I will gather the others and have them there. Go prepare for the test." Tsunade said and Naruko nodded before vanishing.

"So is she ready?" Tsunade said looking to her fiancé who nodded before activating all sound seals and then placed a seal which revealed all Anbu in the room and he motioned for them to leave the room.

"As ready as she will ever be in the time we had. She is strong as her father now, and there is word of the shadow fang being the new yellow flash. "

* * *

-Training ground 7, 1 hour later-

Naruko and Kage walked up to the three tree stumps at the beginning of the training ground and saw the jounin and her old team waiting along with a large crowd of shinobi who had gathered to watch. This involved the rest of Konoha 12. Gai's team had just returned from the mission they were sent on which had been a short delivery mission to wave.

Naruko walked right up to her team and patted Shikamaru's shoulder in greeting. He nodded at her while Chouji gave the golden haired girl a bear hug which knocked the breath out of her while Ino just gave her a friendly hug before they settled down side by side with Kage standing beside his owner.

"You all know the rules and what to do. Team 10 has to get one bell each that hangs on the four senior jounins belts within 2 hours, the jounin whose bell gets taken is dead and has to drop out of the test. This is not about win or fail, but about showing what you can do. All of you have gotten time off missions for 2 and half year to train, show us the results." Tsunade said before jumping back with the rest of them giving them the space they needed.

Team 10 jumped into the trees to find a safe spot to discuss strategy while the jounin just stayed still discussing their own strategy.

"So I'm guessing that they will use heavy frontal assault with Naruko at the head since she has the biggest jutsu arsenal. Our best bet is taking her out, she is the strongest of them. Ino and Shikamaru are both of clans that rely on long distance while Chouji is the front assault. Be careful of Ino's mind techniques and Shikamaru's shadow bending." Asuma said and the other jounin nodded before they waited.

* * *

-With team 10-

"They will most likely aim for me. Which will draw their attention from you guys. They will expect us to go heavy frontal assault but we wont. It is best that we scatter them and take one out at a time. I have the way of doing that but it will require your help. Here take these. Those are hirashin kunai, my dad used those before but those are different in looks since Kakashi will remember those. I will appear wherever you throw one of those. If you throw one of those which will cause the jounin to catch them then I will be able to swipe the bells and then appear elsewhere by throwing the kunai which I will catch. Understood?" Naruko said and the rest of her team nodded after Shikamaru got some facts cleared. They then each took 5 kunai from Naruko and then they all headed back to the training ground where the jounin were growing antsy.

Team 10 minus Naruko walked into the clearing and immediately started throwing jutsu at the jounin who returned in favor when they grew distracted Ino threw the first kunai right at Kurenai who caught it only for a yellow flash to appear at her side and grab her bell and the kunai and then another flash happened and Naruko suddenly stood beside her team-mates holding the first bell.

"One down. Three to go." Naruko said smirking and everyone in the clearing was shocked.

"She knows the hirashin?!" Kakashi yelled at Jiraya who just smirked and nodded while his team-mate just stared at the golden haired girl.

"She figured it out in the first year away. Her father left her all of his notes and how to do it Kakashi, she is her fathers daughter. The hidden prodigy in the konoha 12. Obvious prodigy's are the ones always chosen and they ignore their ability to grow stronger than what is obvious to them, meanwhile Minato and now Naruko have shown that they look at every possibility in order to keep everyone safe. I would be careful if I were you, because if I remember correctly, Minato placed the hirashin seal on you so she doesn't need to use her kunai with you." Jiraya said and as he let go of the final word Naruko had swiped Kakashi's bell away taking him out of the game.

"So how the hell are we supposed to be faster than time itself?" Asuma said as he jumped out of his old students range along with Gai.

Naruko then appeared in front of them and punched the ground destroying it since she had Tsunade's super strength. The two jounin were really worried now. They scattered which was the plan all along and team 10 decided to go after Gai first.

The green clad jounin was getting ready to open a gate when he saw that Naruko just stood back while her team-mates advanced. Chouji expanded his body and pulling the axe from his back rolled towards the jounin who stopped his advance by punching him back. Then Ino appeared and since she had the legendary suckers abilities since she was her apprentice they started exchanging some punches.

Then suddenly there was a flash that passed by him and the assault stopped as the bell at his belt was gone. Asuma was now all alone against his old team and he felt nervous for the first time in a long time. They had underestimated the four younger people in front of him and had paid the price. He swore that he would not be so easily gotten out of the game and got out his knuckle blades.

"Look. How about I make this match a little more fair Asuma-sensei for old times sakes?" Naruko said suddenly and Asuma looked at her suspiciously.

"I will not use the hirashin any more in this test. Since I wish for us to win with our own strength's not our parents. You taught us to be our own person. I will not use the jutsu my father is most known for more than those three times in this battle."

"Alright. But I know that you are still alone able to kick my ass without the hirashin. You are the shadow fang, you have never been a genin in your life. I have never stood a chance against you and now that I know you have everything that the flash had, I am scared of facing you." Asuma said honestly and Naruko just smiled.

"I know Kurenai is pregnant Sensei, which along with the fact that she could trap us in a genjutsu easily is why I had the team take her out first. There was too much danger that we could hurt the child. I took Kakashi out next since he was an easy target when he grew distracted by Jiraya. A shinobi should never let down his guard even if it is just in a test. Then Gai because if he opens all of the gates he can match the speed of the hirashin. You I saved for last, because you are the only one who knows my weakness. You are the biggest risk."

"I used to know the weakness. It is no longer the weakness you have. The weakness is now your arrogance. Use the hirashin if you wish. This test is over either way." Asuma said relaxing his posture and Shikamaru used his shadow bending suddenly to trap him and Ino used her mind possession jutsu to have him hand Chouji the bell.

"Naruko does not need to fight our battles alone Asuma. Together we stand, scattered we fall. That is the number one mistake you made in this test. You thought only about Naruko's strength, ignoring that we have been training too. And when you found out about the hirashin which you should have expected you were too shocked and scared to act until you were only two left and then you scattered." Shikamaru said and the rest of his team nodded.

"Aye, sensei. It is not that Naruko grew overly powerful. It is just that you made mistakes which can be fixed. She is still only at your level. She is not much stronger than you are. With better planning and taking us into account you could have prolonged this test." Ino said and Asuma sweat-dropped as Tsunade jumped down and dismissed everyone.

-x-x-x-

* * *

I rewrote some parts of this chapter since I was getting some major anger pointed for some parts within minutes of it being posted. I apologize if I went too far. And to those who might seek to see those flames then I got them straight as a personal message not a review.

So...anyone think Naruko might be overpowered?


End file.
